India - Poultry farmers troubled by sharp decline in egg prices
Published:May 15, 2006
Source :New Kerala
Still recuperating from losses suffered in the aftermath of the bird-flu scare, poultry farmers in Goa are facing further crisis due to a sharp decline in egg prices which has led them to demand compensation as given to their Maharashtra counterparts.
The Goan poultry farmers have appealed to the state Animal Husbandry Minister Fransisco Pacheco in this regard, Phillip Valadares, President, Goa zone, National Egg Coordination Committee, told PTI.
"The Goa government should compensate farmers on the Maharashtra model for the loss they have suffered," Valadares demanded.
The poultry farmers are troubled with the slashing of egg prices by 25 per cent in southern Indian states.
"Around 35,000 crore eggs, which were stocked across India during the bird-flu outbreak, have now flooded the markets, dipping the prices", he said.
Valadares said the egg prices have come down drastically this month from Rs 130 per 100 eggs to mere Rs 85. "We are not even able to recover cost of production with such meagre amount," he said.
The reduction in the prices is also due to the "soaring mercury", he said.
Goa consumes 2.5 lakh eggs every day of which only one lakh is produced there while rest is supplied from the neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra states, he added.
