ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) has criticised relevant authorities for holding consignments of poultry food at Port Qasim and said that delay in the release of shipments was damaging the chicken and egg supply chain.

“Soybean and canola are the key ingredients as well as the main source of protein in poultry feed,” chairman of PPA Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf said here on Friday.

The PPA claims that poultry feed production in the country has dropped to almost zero due to non-availability of soybean and canola feed in the country.

Members held a protest rally outside National Press Club (NPC) Islamabad, demanding early release of the consignments as any delay could severely damage poultry as well as the dairy feed industry.

Poultry feed and cattle feed are prepared with several ingredients including soybean, canola and corn.

“If the shipments containing these two items were not released immediately at port Qasim, the citizens of Pakistan will face unavailability of chicken and eggs,” Mr Ashraf said.

He added that if the government does not release these shipments at the earliest, Pakistan’s poultry industry will be stranded. Not only will it hit consumers depriving them of a cheap source of protein, an edible item, but the existing flocks at poultry farms could perish due to lack of food.

“We all need to understand that in case of collapse of the poultry industry, its restoration will not only require an investment of billions of rupees, but it could take up to 18 months to revive the complete supply chain at its current level,” he said.

Mian Mohammad Aslam, member of the executive committee of PPA, Mohammad Javed, Hasan Sarosh and other poultry farmers participated in the protest rally.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2022