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April 13, 2006
The silent sufferers
The bird flu rumours continue to affect the food business, especially in Lahore which is famous for its eateries. The use of white meat has drastically dropped in restaurants since the initial scare. Pizza parlours and other fast food outlets have also registered a considerable decrease in their customers as most of the items they offer are chicken-based.
There are places like the tourist street at Old Anarkali, the Gowalmandi food street, Laxshami Chowk and some other spots where chicken is still a hot favourite on the menu, but most of the visitors are reluctant to take the risk. The major sufferers of the bird flu virus are those involved in the poultry business. They are facing financial difficulties and many of them have become bankrupt.
The consumption of eggs has also been affected. Many roadside food stalls have for the time being stopped the use of eggs in bun-kebabs. “Don’t talk about having chicken as the chances of getting bird flu are high,” says Ammara a visitor at the food street the other day. “Perhaps no case of bird flu will be detected at the end of the day but there is no harm in taking precautionary measures,” she opines.
Nasir Ali complains that the rumour has brought down the sale of fast food in his restaurant by 70 per cent. In 2004, when the rumours about the bird flu surfaced in the country, the business was not affected because it lasted only for a week. “We are trying our best to educate the public, through advertisements in print and electronic media, to not pay heed to these rumours. But it is not working.” However, he hopes that when the rumours die down the sales will improve.
Shopkeeper Murad Husain of Township says that the bird flu scare has forced him to close down his poultry shop. “I then invested my savings in the kite-flying business but the unexpected ban on Basant ruined my business as well as my life.”
The poultry farm owners are finding it hard to dispose of the existing stock as the prices have decreased. The per kilogram price of chicken meat has come down to Rs55 while previously it was Rs120 per kilogram. Eggs were sold at Rs40 per dozen compared to Rs24 per dozen now.
Taking advantage of the situation, the butchers have increased the prices of mutton by Rs50 per kilogram in the city. The prices of fish and beef have also shot up. But as they say that every dark cloud has a silver lining, and in this case the poor can consume chicken easily because of its lower prices.
“We are eating chicken these days as it is available at the same price as pulses,” says Muhammad Din, a resident of Mochi Pura. “I want such a scare on mutton, too, so that there is a decrease in its ever-increasing prices too,” he says mockingly.
The bird flu scare reportedly has caused loss of three billion rupees to poultry farming — sub-sector of livestock — in just one month because of the reduced prices and low consumption of poultry meat in the country.
Some office-bearers of the Pakistan Poultry Association say that field works and surveillance reports suggest that poultry birds in the country are safe and people should not be concerned about bird flu.
They also see the whole affair as a conspiracy to sabotage the poultry industry. “Bird flu reports are baseless and aimed at hindering development made in the field of poultry farming. The move is to market a particular brand of vaccines meant for immunity against bird flu,” says an official.
“Poultry farmers are now spending money on the bird flu vaccination which was previously spent on breeding,” says a poultry farm owner. They have urged the government to provide soft loans to the poultry industry at 50 per cent mark-up to enable farmers to improve management and farm conditions with a view to increase poultry meat production. In Pakistan, the poultry industry produces 27 per cent of the total meat consumed by people.—Zulqernain Tahir
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