Dawn reports that an appeal to this effect was made during the provincial convention of the poultry farmers organised by the association on 26 July, with Dr Sajid Nazir in the chair. Pakistan Poultry Association's former chairman Raza Mahmood Khursand was the guest of honour.

The speakers, including former PPA chairmen Dr Abdul Ghafoor Chaudhry and Khalid Salim Malik, Kohsar Poultry Farmers Association president Raja Ateeq Abbasi, association market wing convener Rai Mansab Khan and broiler wing convener Muhammad Azmat Chaudhry said that 83 per cent increase in feed prices, bird flu and overproduction during the past one-and-a-half years have brought the industry into a serious situation.

Around 35 per cent of poultry farms have closed down and the rest are on the verge of closure due to 100 per cent increase in production cost. Around 100,000 persons have lost their means of livelihood as a result of closure of the poultry farms.

They said that the Punjab government should rescue the poultry industry because 70 per cent of its products were consumed in the province and agricultural crops like maize, canola and soyabean used in poultry feed are also produced locally. They said that the increase in poultry feed prices was unjustified and must be controlled because the prices of the three crops had reduced on the open market.

They said that apart from chicken meat prices, mutton and beef prices would also go up if the government does not check the unjustified increase in feed prices.