LAHORE: The poultry sector in the country is on the brink of collapse as farmers blame feed millers for exploiting the soybean issue to further milk the white meat market.

Broiler Farmers Association Chairman Sardar Tajammul Hussain claims that at least 50 per cent of around 36,000 controlled poultry farms in Punjab have shut down, while others are nearing collapse as the feed mills have exorbitantly raised the prices of their products under one excuse or another — the latest one being the seizure of soybean shipments by the customs authorities because they were extracted from the genetically modified crop.

Some officials claim that under-invoicing was the major cause behind the seizure; otherwise, the same product had been imported for over two decades.

Mr Hussain says the feed millers have increased the price of each 50kg poultry feed bag by Rs2,200 to Rs7,200 per bag in the last six months and the rate is set to go further up on the blockade of soybean shipments.

He says the farm gate price of chicken at present is over Rs400 per kg but the farmers are suffering losses by selling it at Rs260 per kg just to keep their sheds operational.

He also alleges that the poultry feed is substandard, as feed bags don’t carry the composition of ingredients, and thus poor feed quality is another reason behind the shortage of chicken meat.

Mr Hussain urged the government to take notice of the situation and direct the mills for use of other resources instead of soya bean for the manufacturing of poultry feed.

Khaleeque Arshad, former chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, however, rubbishes Mr Hussain’s claims that feed mills are fleecing poultry farmers.

“Around two dozen feed mills have shut down in the country after suffering losses during the past few months due to unavailability of raw material or its unusually high rates. In such a situation, how could the millers hit their own market?”

He says that many more mills are on the brink of closure if raw material supply is not restored sooner than later as their stocks of raw material are about to exhaust.

He says that feed rates went up in the recent past because of hikes in its raw materials, like maize and wheat, as well as the increasing disparity between the rupee and the dollar, the latter being used for the import of soya beans.

He asserts that there is no substitute for soya bean, 25 per cent of the poultry feed, to provide cheap and easiest protein to the poultry as claimed by the Broiler Farmers Association.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2022