Rajshahi poultry farmers incur loss for fall in egg price

RAJSHAHI, Dec 29: Poultry farmers at Puthia Upazila of the district are incurring huge loss due to fall in egg price. At the same time, they are paying more for buying chick, feed and medicine.
Now, many farmers have gone into hiding as they could not repay the loan which they took from different sources.
Puthia Upazila Livestock office sources said around 5 to 6 lakh eggs are produced daily at around 2,500 poultry farms in the upazila. The eggs are supplied to different godowns and areas in the upazila. But due to price fall, the farm owners have been compelled to sell the eggs at throwaway prices.
Now, per piece of egg is selling at Tk 4. As a result, the farm owners are incurring loss since they took loan from different banks and NGOs. Being unable to repay the loan, many farm owners have gone into hiding.
Owner of GM Poultry Feed at Kathalbaria Village Golam Mostafa said, "I have been doing the business for long. But since May last, the prices of egg and poultry have fallen. As a result, I am facing setback to repay the loan which I took from different banks and NGOs. I buy per piece chick at Tk 130 and sell per piece egg at Tk 4. But, my production cost is Tk 5.5 to 6, and so I incur loss of about Tk 2 to 2.5 in per piece of egg. In this connection, I face loss of about Tk 60,000 to 70,000 from the sale of eggs of 11,000 poultries per day."
Owner of RJS Poultry Feed at Dhananjay Para Village Syed Ali said, "I am incurring loss of about Tk 5,000 to 6,000 from the sale of eggs of 2,000 poultries daily."
Other farmer owners Rabbi, Sohel and Kalu of the upazila also echoed the same as Golam Mostafa and Syed Ali.
Egg trader Sujan Ghosh said, "The price of egg has fallen now. So, we have been compelled to sell the egg at less than the usual cost. We are incurring loss in this connection."
Puthia Upazila Livestock Officer Mokhlesur Rahman said, "The egg produced here is sold at different places of the country. But, as the price of egg has fallen, many farm owners have closed their business. Besides, those who took loan from different sources have fallen into
misery."