MANY OTHER FACTORS, APART FROM POLITICIANS’ WHIMS, AFFECT CHICKEN PRICES

The poultry prices go up and down only because of demand and supply mechanism and not because of whims of politicians, former Pakistan Poultry Association chairman Abdul Basit said on Monday.
“It is a perishable product there is no storage facility once the bird is ready on the farm it has to come to market and has to be sold irrespective of price. Nobody can fix the price,” Basit said.
He said the poultry farmers always wished to get higher prices then the cost of production but they could not, consumer always wanted to buy at a lower price but he also could not.
“It is like vegetable. When price goes up certain elements start negative propaganda that poultry farmers have pooled up. They must bear in mind that if poultry farmers could increase the price then they would never let it come down. But the fact is that most part of the year chicken prices are less than cost of production. Only for few months a farmer gets premium which compensates his previous losses that is how the year average price becomes viable for the farmer to continue his work,” he said.
Basit said the production of chicken was 1000 million birds in a year which meant about 3 million a day that could be more in some part of the year when weather was good and load shedding was less as the controlled sheds have Evaporative cooling system which was based on desert cooler technology which did not work in July, Aug and Sept.
“In these months the 1st priority of farmer is to keep the birds alive while weight gain is 2nd option so the supply reduces,” he said.
He explained that the cost of production was also variable like any other agriculture produce say if some farmer gets 70 Maunds (40kg) from 1 Acre of land which he can has a different cost of production and other gets 20 Maunds (40kg) has a different cost of production that too happens, he said.
“Same is true with poultry. With such loadshedding of electricity one can imagine what is happening at poultry farms the poultry farmer once houses the chicken into his farm he has to provide electricity. For that he has WAPDA connection then has a standby generator for WAPDA and then another generator as standby of Standby (generator) which costs currently Rs 40 per unit other then the capital cost of generators imagine in rural areas there is more then 20 hours load shedding,” he said.
He said there were many other factors which have increased the cost of production one of them was currency devaluation the cost of imported poultry medicines and vaccines in Dollar terms have increased tremendously.
“Soya bean meal is the major and very essential vegetable protein source for poultry feed which is not produced locally it is all imported from India. Some time back it used to be around $200 per tonne now it is over $500 per tonne One Dollar used to be close to Rs80 per $ and now it is close to Rs 100. Look at transportation cost the chain is grand parents are transported to GP farms then feed and all other things transported to farms then Hatching eggs which are pregnant eggs are transported to GP Hatcheries then Parent Chicks are transported to parent farms then again feed and all others to PS again
Hatching eggs to commercial Hatcheries then Broiler chicks to Broiler Farms and feed and all others to Broiler farms then finally Broiler meat birds to whole Sale market then to retailer and then to the kitchen,” he said.
Basit said on all these steps a hell of transportation cost is incurred other then production cost.
“Look at Grain Prices wheat is Rs1050 for 40Kg all other grains follow the foot steps. Poultry feed is 70 percent of chicken cost and feed consists 60 percent grains. Salaries are another major cost. Above all disease is biggest challenge, if there is an outbreak of any disease then you can lose 100 percent birds even after spending all the above said expense. This is the biggest draw back of this business at the same time this is the beauty of this business it gives you surprises of losing every thing at the same time making fortune. Because of all the above factors there is lot of fluctuation in prices but the year average price is always at a level that chicken meat and egg remains a reachable product not only for a common man even for a poor man,” he said.
Some time it was cheaper then vegetables and pulses also, he said.
He said “that is what the government, media and the public at large should understand. This has been proven in last many years that increase in chicken price has been the lowest then all other protein sources as mentioned by Economic Survey of Pakistan definitely chicken meat is the cheapest and the best.”