LAHORE, Oct 19: The breeder poultry stock, which has largely been concentrated in Abbottabad and Mansehra districts, has suffered minor losses in the earthquake and will not affect the market.

This was claimed by Dr Hassan Sarosh, convener of the Statistical Committee of the Pakistan Poultry Association.

He told Dawn on Wednesday that this committee had been constituted to assess the quake damages.

He said: “Pakistan has over 5.5 million breeders stock. Of them, only 100,000 have died in the recent quake. This is a negligible figure and would not affect the market.”

The earlier calculation showed that the stocks had suffered a huge loss, but it had not been the case. The committee had found very little damage to the flock.

According to PPA chairman Raza Mahmood Khursand, the earlier calculation showed that the breeder stock might have suffered around seven per cent loss. But, fortunately, it was not case.

“Any loss of breeder stock takes around 70 days to hit the market. An egg takes four days to reach hatchery where it remains in incubation for 21 days and then another 45 days in the farm before a chick reaches the market. That means the loss would reflect in market somewhere in December.”

Luckily, the poultry demand also dips in December. So, he said, whatever the minor loss might appear it would not affect the market.

Broiler and layer stocks might have suffered more loss, but again the market would not be affected, he said.