Poultry farmers in Andhra Pradesh have been hit by a double whammy with skyrocketing feed prices on the one hand and plummeting egg prices on the other.

The last couple of weeks, in particular, has been pretty bad for them as the poultry feed cost jumped by Rs 500 to Rs 6,500 a ton, whereas the prices have dipped by eight paise to Rs 0.95 per egg.

"The situation is worsening by the day. We feel totally helpless," said M P Seshaiah, president of Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation.

According to him, the gap between the cost of producing one egg and the price it ultimately fetches is around Rs 0.35 paise per egg. In other words, the cost of production is around Rs 1.35 to Rs 1.38 per egg, whereas the selling price is only 0.95 per egg.

The poultry farmers blamed sharp rise in maize price over the last couple of weeks for their problems. It is said that the maize prices have jumped to Rs 750 per ton from a level of Rs 500 a ton.

The prices of other ingredients in the poultry feed like soya bean cakes, broken rice, and rice bran have showed a sharp rise in the last couple weeks.

For instance, the soya bean cake prices rose to Rs 12,000 a ton from Rs 8,000 a ton, and that of broken rice to Rs 5,500 a ton from Rs 3,000 a ton.

HYDERABAD: M ENOSH JEREMIAH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 07, 2002 3:29:33 AM ]