Till a month ago, Alauddin Khatik was so busy in his poultry shop that his phone never stopped ringing during business hours. But it is a totally different scenario now.
Alauddin Khatik supplies chicken to restaurants in Vijayapura city regularly and now his business has been hit due to misconceptions surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19).
At Tiganabidri village in Babaleshwar taluk, about 40 km from Vijayapura, Mahadev Talwar who has 4,000 birds in his poultry farm is a worried man these days.
From a sales number of 2,000 birds a month, he is now facing almost no sales. “We are ready to supply birds free, but poultry shop owners are not keen on receiving them as their business too has been hit badly due to coronavirus scare,” he said.
According to an estimate, in Vijayapura city, around 20 quintals of chicken is sold every day.
“But because of coronavirus scare, we are unable to sell even three quintals a day,” said Israr Inamdar, another poultry supplier. False information that coronavirus spreads through chicken is the main reason for this development, feel the traders.
Makhtum Mulla, a poultry farm owner, said that without any returns, it is difficult to keep feeding the birds. “We simply can’t keep feeding the birds everyday without any returns,” he said.
The traders have spoken to the veterinary officers who have clarified that consumption of chicken has nothing to do with the virus. “However, false information has spread so much that we can do nothing,” Alauddin Khatik said.
Prices fall
The adverse impact has been so huge that the prices have come down from ₹ 180 per kg to just around ₹ 40 a kg. The poultry shop owners and farm owners have approached the district administration urging it to take steps to help them.