The shortage in supply of maize due to fall armyworm attack on the crop has affected poultry farmers. The had led to production cost going up.
The shortage in supply of maize has increased the production costs of per egg by close to ₹ 1. Farmers said that production would be affected if the current situation continues. There are close to 1,100 poultry farms in Namakkal alone and about 95% of India’s egg export are from Namakkal.
General secretary of Livestock and Agri Farmers’ Trade Association P.V. Senthil said the cost of production per egg has increased from ₹3.50 to upto ₹4.30. Earlier, farmers used to procure the raw materials from various parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. However, the fall army pest attacks has led to shortage of crop here and were are forced to procure them from Northern States at a higher price.
Vangili Subramanian, president of Tamil Nadu Egg Marketing Society, said that they are forced to spend up to ₹6 crore for bringing crops from Northern States. “A rake of 2,600 tonnes of maize costs close to Rs .6 crore. We are procuring maize from Bihar, rye from Rajasthan, wheat from Madhya Pradesh and broken rice from Chhattisgarh,” he said.
He said that the situation is expected to continue for another six months and this is the first time farmers are facing problems due to shortage in raw material. “This is the first time poultry farmers are facing such a crisis due to shortage of raw materials. Government should support farmers by providing working capital otherwise farmers wouldn’t be able to run farms for around next six months,” he said.
A.K.P. Chinraj, Namakkal M, and a poultry farmer said, “the cost of production has gone up by 40% due to shortage of raw materials. Though the Centre has permitted import of maize at 15% import duty, we have requested with the Finance Ministry to waive off the import duty as well otherwise it would only increase production costs.”
The suggested egg price by NECC Namakkal for 100 eggs on Saturday was ₹350 and the price has gone up by ₹5.