Indore Poultry Federation president Inderveer Singh Nayyar told the Hindustan Times that cost of maize and soya, the two main poultry feed, has gone up substantially this year thus increasing the input cost. “Maize is now available at Rs 850 per quintal up from Rs 600 per quintal last year while soya is up 10 per cent,” he said.

While admitting that the prices of broilers and eggs this year have improved due to increase in demand, he added that the high cost of feed has reduced the profit margins of poultry farmers.

Wholesale broiler prices in the City are ruling in the range of Rs 35-39 per kg depending on the quality as against Rs 13-15 last year when consumption levels had fallen drastically due to bird flu scare. However, the poultry farmers this year are paying Rs 20,000-25,000 more for a truck- load (10 tonne) of maize.

“There is no substitute for maize and it has to be included in the daily diet of chickens,” says Sunil Chouhan, a poultry farmer based in Ujjain.

Source: Hindustan Times