Six months ago, Muscat, Kuwait, Iraq, Doha, Dubai, Afghanistan and some African countries had imposed ban on egg imports from India in the wake of the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, according to Express Buzz of India. Although Afghanistan and Africa lifted their ban, the refusal to lift ban by other countries has resulted in reduction of exports by at least four million eggs per day.

Earlier, of the 25 million eggs produced per day in 800 poultry units in Namakkal, 70 million were exported to the above countries.

Egg exporter, R. Kannan, said the industry has urged the Central Government to declare South India bird flu-free so that the importers would gain confidence.

Poultry clusters in the country should be demarcated into zones—zones which are free from bird flu should be declared 'bird flu-free'.

Despite several representations to the Central and State governments in the last four years, no action has been taken, lamented Mr Kannan.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Poultry Owners Association president, Mr Nallathambi, called for an end to power cuts to poultry businesse as many pre-and post-production operations need uninterrupted electricity supply. The date of production, quality grade, weight, and expiry date are to be mechanically marked on the exportable eggs.

As electricity supply is vital for this operation six-and-a-half-hour a day. A power cut is dealing a crippling blow, Mr Kannan told Express Buzz.