"We have been hit hard by the political turbulence," said Moshiur Rahman, convenor of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee (BPICC), a group of six associations of the poultry sector.

The poultry industry has incurred losses of more than Tk 4,000 crore due to political instability over the last three months, he said at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital.

According to The Daily Star, Mr Rahman said that all sub-sectors of the poultry industry such as breeders, feed industries, commercial broiler poultry farmers, egg producers and animal medicine sellers are suffering losses due to blockades and shutdowns.

As things work in the poultry industry, the production of day-old chicks, eggs and broiler chicken takes place on a daily basis and they have to be shipped on the same day, as the farms lack storage and preservation facilities.

"We have no other option but to kill the day-old chicks and destroy the eggs if we cannot send them out on the day," said Mr Rahman.

Blockades and shutdowns are forcing poultry farmers to destroy around 14-20 lakh day-old chicks and around 3.15 crore eggs worth Tk 20.47 crore every week, said Mr Rahman, also the president of Breeders Association of Bangladesh (BAB).

Taher Ahmed Siddiki, president of the Egg Producers Association said their weekly production is around 10.50 crore pieces. They suffered losses of Tk 266 crores for failure to sell 30 per cent of their total product and Tk 364 crores for selling eggs at less than their production cost.

Currently, poultry farmers are also compelled to sell day-old chicks and broiler chicken below the production cost due to a disruption of supply chain, said Saidur Rahman Babu, secretary of BAB.

The farmers have to sell day-old chick at Tk 15-20 on an average against cost of Tk 35 per piece.

One kg broiler is selling at Tk 70-80 at farm level, while production costs Tk 110-120. Breeders have lost around Tk 382 crore in the last three months.

The expected demand for feed in the last 13 weeks was around 6 lakh tonnes. The demand has now fallen by 35-40 per cent and the losses rose to Tk 1,000 crore in three months, said Fazle Rahim Khan Shahriar, secretary of the Feed Industries Association Bangladesh.

The industry has lost Tk 975 crore from commercial broiler poultry farming, said Rafiqul Haque, secretary of the World’s Poultry Science Association—Bangladesh Branch.

The market for animal medicines has squeezed down to 63 per cent of usual and lost Tk 158 crore in the last 13 weeks, said M Nazrul Islam, general secretary of Animal Health Companies Association of Bangladesh.

Md Helal Uddin, vice-president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, urged political leaders to come to a peaceful settlement saving the farmers from deep losses.

Poultry leaders demanded the government make banks reschedule loans, waive bank interests, and provide financial support to restart the closed farms.

The poultry industry accounts for 4 per cent of the gross domestic product. The country has six grandparent stock farms, 60-70 parent stock farms and hatcheries and 70,000 poultry farms. The sector has so far invested around Tk 25,000 crore.

They also urged the political parties to keep the vehicles carrying eggs, chicks, chicken and feed out of shutdowns and blockades and demanded security of their profession and investment.

The leaders also forwarded memorandums to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia and Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad to resolve political unrest.