A few weeks ago, eggs were below Rs. 2. They have served as a substitute to meat, which is relatively more expensive for the poor.

The commoners feel that they can no longer afford consumption of egg.

The upward trend has been observed for over a week now.

According to The Hindu, the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) and West Godavari District Poultry Farmers’ Association attribute the rising price of egg to the steep increase in poultry feed costs.

The pro-poultry outfits blame the government for allowing soya cake and maize, the feed for poultry, for exports at the expense of local requirement.

Komatlapalli Venkata Subba Rao, secretary of the poultry farmers’ association, has held the government’s failure to cap the rising feed cost responsible for the increasing egg cost. The cost of a ton of soya cake went up to Rs. 23,000 this year as against Rs. 12,000 last year, maize from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 12,000 and broken rice from Rs. 5,500 to Rs. 10,000, says Mr. Subba Rao.

Even as the feed cost witnessed a 100 per cent increase within a year, the government did nothing, he adds. “For the poultry farmers, the current egg price is not quite higher when compared to the feed cost. The industry will be viable only when the farmers get more than Rs 2.25.

A little over 1.5 lakh eggs have been produced per day in the four coastal districts - Guntur, Krishna, East Godavari and West Godadavari - on an average. Meanwhile, West Godavari district produces 70,000 tons of corn seed, mainly used as feed for poultry, accounting for 85 per cent of the country’s total production.