HYDERABAD, Feb 22: Chicken dealers and poultry farm owners have expressed apprehension that about 100,000 people may lose jobs in Sindh if ongoing chicken crisis due to bird flu virus does not come to an end.

Talking to this correspondent, the poultry farm owners said there had been no improvement in the business of chicken as the people were still afraid of buying broilers and eggs.

They claimed that virus H5N1, commonly known as avian influenza, did not affect chicken, adding that no case of such virus transmitting from chicken to human beings had been reported in the country.

On an average, a hatchery produces 20,000 to 25,000 chicks, with each costing Rs14 to 15. It takes seven to eight weeks to nourish a chick into a two-kilogramme broiler.

When the demand was at peak, a chick was sold at Rs21 to 22 in the last season before the poultry industry was hit by the crisis with the result that a chick had to be sold at Rs20, causing huge losses to poultry farm owners.

A poultry farm owner, Dr Tariq Iqbal, said a broiler cost a farm owner up to Rs80 for feed consumed during seven or eight weeks, besides miscellaneous expenditures which included power supply, vaccination, labour charges and water.

He said because of about 10 per cent mortality, that increased in case of any outbreak of disease, a 2kg broiler cost a farm owner Rs100. He said these days a broiler was being sold at Rs50 which was sold between Rs90 to Rs100 before the crisis.

Investigations revealed that one labourer was needed to look after 1,000 chicks at a poultry farm and, according to the district officer, poultry development, livestock and fisheries, Dr Mohammad Asghar, around 1,000 farms were located in Hyderabad.

According to an estimate 6,000 to 7,000 farms are located in Sindh. Pakistan Poultry Association member Farooq Qureshi said around 80,000 labourers were working in the farms in Sindh, apart from 10,000 other people who were directly or indirectly connected with the business.

He believed that in case the crisis persisted, the majority of the employees would lose jobs as farm owners would not be in a position to afford their wages. He quoted names of some farm owners who were not interested in the business till the crisis was over.

Dr Tariq Iqbal maintained that H5N1 needed a second host for transmission to human body and the virus was reported only in countries where pig was consumed. He explained that liver of pig was very small and whenever the virus (H5N1) hit the liver, it easily affected the whole body.

PPA officials blamed media for out-of-proportion coverage of the issue without conducting investigation or getting any laboratory test about a particular case.