The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has appealed to the Government to grant a one-year moratorium on payment of interest and loans availed by poultry farmers.

This will provide immediate succour to the farmers who are facing a severe crisis for the past two years, due to an unprecedented increase in the cost of essential feed ingredients like maize and soya meal.

During the past two years, the price of soya meal has been constantly rising; it has now reached unaffordable levels, due to various reasons like as forward trading, exports, speculation and manipulation of price by traders and multi-national companies NECC said in a release.

According to it, price of soya meal had increased from ₹2,800 per quintal in April 2012 to ₹4,670 in May 14. There is also apprehension that soya bean production this year could be hit due to deficient rainfall, leading to higher price in the coming months.

Due to the higher input cost, the cost of production has gone up from ₹2.60 per egg last year to ₹3.50 presently. However, the average farm-gate price is only ₹2.75 per egg – thus resulting in a net loss of 75 paise per egg for the farmers, NECC said.

Also the average cost of production for broilers has increased from ₹51-52 per kg live weight last year to ₹67-68 presently, whereas the average farm-gate price is ₹57-58 - thus resulting in a net loss of ₹10 per kg live weight for the farmers.

Thousands of small and marginal farmers - representing 20-30 per cent of the industry - have already closed down or suspended their farming operations, as they are unable to feed their birds and meet the overhead costs of sustaining the operations. Most of the farmers are on the verge of insolvency, the release said.

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