PBFA Demands Controlled Chicken Meat Prices

PAKISTAN - The price of chicken meat has rocketed between Rs 285 to Rs 315 per kilogram although the it should have been around 100 Rs per kg at the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.
calendar icon 9 July 2013
clock icon 3 minute read

According to The Nation, the unprecedented price-hike in chicken meat is attributed to various factors but it is believed that the control of industry by some, absence of regulatory authority, non-implementation of the Punjab Animals Compound Feeding Stuff Act 2002 and non-participation of the poultry representatives in the price control committees are some of the main causes of the price-hike.

Chairman of the Pakistan Broiler Farmers Association (PBFA), Rana Abdul Sattar, said that the monopolist poultry industrialists were the main cause of the chicken meat price hike as small broiler farmers have lost ground due to chicken disease outbreaks, exploitation and losses.

The broiler chicken farmer said it is a pity that the largest reared fowl in the world was becoming extinct in Punjab despite the fact that more than 50 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of meat and eggs.

Mr Sattar said that in the absence of the Punjab Animals Compound Feeding Stuff Act of 2002, substandard poultry feed has become a major hazard in the provision of healthy chicken meat to consumers besides causing financial losses to poultry farms.

He said 50 to 60 per cent of small poultry farms were being closed down in Punjab due to lack of feed, epidemics and huge financial losses which have left big industrialists with processing plants to dictate terms and fix prices according to their whims and fancies.

He demanded that the Punjab government implement the Punjab Feed Act of 2002 so that poultry feed producers could be forced to label their formula on the feed bags and constitute regulatory board under the chairmanship of the DCO or the Secretary of Livestock in order to bring the prices down and bring an end to the monopoly of the few, besides setting rules for the protection of the small poultry farmers.

Mr Sattar expressed fears that chicken prices might experience a soaring trend with the start of the holy month of Ramadan if the government fails to the rescue of consumers.

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