Poultry farmers struggle with low price and high cost of production

Thousands of marginal poultry farmers are making losses as the price of broiler chicken drastically declined after Eid-ul-Azha.

Sources in the poultry industry say that demand for chicken always falls after Eid al-Adha, as many families consume Korbani meat stored in their freezers.

Stakeholders say the farmers cannot reduce the cost of production of broiler chicken, as the price of feed and other inputs are beyond their control. Farmers are selling live broiler chickens at Tk 110-120 per kg, compared with an estimated production cost of about Tk 140 per kg in the northern region during the first half of June.

Abdul Khaleq (45), of Purbo Jalashi, Panchagarh Sadar is engaged in poultry farming since 2001. He sold some 1,000 chickens, each weighing 2.5-2.7 kg, at Tk 115 per kg, incurring a loss of Tk 70,000. He was growing 1500 birds in another shed. "In the present year I made a loss in almost every batch. I continue farming with the hope that the situation will improve. Now I owe Tk 270,000  to the dealer," he said.

Julekha Begum (50), a widow hailing from Shekherhat in Panchagarh Sadar,  started poultry farming in 2011 when her husband was ill, and has supported her family of three since his death. "I have stopped growing broiler chickens as the price is low. I will resume production when the price increases. It's not possible for farmers to survive unless broiler chicken is sold at Tk 150 per kg," she told this author on 12 June.

Rabiul Parvez (27), a diploma engineer in information and communications technology, of Thuta Pukhri, Panchagarh, had only 1,300 chickens in one of three sheds that can accommodate 5,000 birds. "Higher prices of feed and day-old chicks do not matter much as long as we can sell chickens at a good price," he said. He said that in recent months, prices have been low, and farmers have made losses in 3 out of the last 4 batches of broilers. He now owes Tk 600,000 to the dealer.

Rabiul Awal (40), a farmer from Harihorpur in Thakurgaon Sadar, recalled that he earned a profit of Tk 70,000 when he bought day-old chicks at Tk 55-60 per chick and sold broiler chickens at Tk 185 per kg. Now the price of a broiler chick is only 15 Taka, but farmers are selling broiler chickens at Tk 110-125 per kg, losing about Tk 20 per kg. Currently, he has only 3,000 chickens at his farm, though it has the capacity to grow 15,000.

A wholesale trader and owner of Masud Poultry in Panchagarh town, Aman Ali (33) observed that neither farmers nor traders were in a good position due to the fall in demand for chicken, which has led to a low price.  He mentioned that he used to buy about 600 kg of chickens each day in the region and sell them in different districts, but at present his volume is only 200 kg of chickens each day. "Many people are buying less chicken because they still have Korbani meat at home. Farmers are now selling chickens at between Tk 115 and Tk 125 per kg. The demand for fish and vegetables has also fallen," he said, explaining the reasons of lower demand.

Sardar Sabbir Ahammed, General Manager (Sales) of Kazi Farms, said, "At present, the broiler chicken price is low. As the chicken price is low, farmers don't want to buy broiler day-old chicks. So the price of day-old chicks is also low, and hatcheries are making huge losses. Eventually, the demand for broiler chicken will increase, and farmers will want to buy day-old chicks again. The price of chicks will then go up. When that happens, the government should allow hatcheries to sell chicks at a high price to recover their losses. When the market is good, companies must be allowed to recover losses they made when the market was bad. Otherwise the hatchery industry will shrink."