LAHORE – Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) Northern Zone has expressed grave concern over the imposition of 3.5 percent withholding tax on the trade of agricultural produce. The PPA believe that it will increase poultry feed prices as well as of chicken meat, which will ultimately add to the miseries of masses.
PPA-NZ Chairman Abdul Hayee Mehta said that agricultural produce constitutes 60 to 65 percent of the poultry feed and imposition of withholding tax would result in an increase of Rs 35 in the poultry feed bag, while an addition of around Rs 7.0 per kilogram in chicken meat prices would occur. He estimated that 50-kilogram poultry feed bag costs Rs 1,740 and after the imposition of withholding tax, its price would jump up by Rs 35 per bag.
Chicken meat was the cheapest source of protein for the common man, such practices would not only add to the miseries of masses but also hamper the growth of poultry industry.
