How Is The Poultry And Farming Industry Being Affected Due To The Bird Flu?

The Alvin influenza or the bird flu is causing a threat to the poultry and farming industry especially in the states that are affected by the flu. With the prices plunging below the cost of production as people are apprehensive of buying or eating meat. Gujarat has been particularly facing huge losses due to the bird flu. Anwesh Patel, president of the Gujarat Broiler Farmers Coordination Committee and also the owner of around 10 poultry farms said that the consumption of broiler chicken in Gujarat is pegged at 600 tones per day, and there has been a 90 per cent dip in the sales of chicken since Monday, according to the Indian Express.

So far there have been no reports of mortality due to the bird flu in the organized poultry sector, and reports of deaths have been about crows and migratory birds. The state governments of Kerala, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have reported morality among birds due to the virus. While Kerala has reported the presence of the virus in the carcass of the ducks, the same was reported from crows and migratory birds in the other states. The state government have started serro- surveillance of the avain population in their region. Even though there have been no reports of similar cases in the poultry birds, the industry is concerned about the effect of such news on their sales.

The president of poultry Farmer and Breeders Association has pointed out that the scare of the bird flu has always been affecting the poultry industry. Even if the consumer consumers are not scared of consuming poultry products, such news are traded in order to pull down the prices. He also said that the production this time is 7 per cent more than before, hence, any drastic dip in the sales will not have a great impact on the prices.