The Poultry Farmers and Traders Samiti alleges that the Tamil Nadu poultry farms, which meet a huge chunk of Kerala demand, is trying to destroy Kerala’s domestic poultry industry.

Benny Immatty, president of the Samiti, told The Hindu Business Line that the Tamil Nadu Broiler Chicken Coordination Committee had decided to suspend selling of young broiler chicks to Kerala farmers.

This, Mr Immatty alleged, was aimed at capturing the entire Christmas chicken market. Normally, the young chicks for the season came from Tamil Nadu farmers and these were fed and raised on the farms in Kerala villages for 45 days before the Christmas sales.

However, Mr Immatty said, this time around Tamil Nadu’s poultry committee decided not to sell chicks to the Kerala farms.

“This is with a view to flooding the Christmas market with their own produce and disable Kerala farmers from competing with them,” he said. “This is a marketing strategy usually employed by big multinational companies – denying raw materials to competitors.”

He noted that chicken farms were coming up in many Kerala villages, which posed a threat to Tamil Nadu famers. By denying supply of chicks, they are trying to ensure that there is no competition from Kerala farmers.

He also alleged that Tamil poultry industry was dumping chicken on the Kerala market and driving down prices. The costs of raising chicken, including taxes, are far lower in Tamil Nadu and hence the Tamil traders can sell cheap in Kerala, to the detriment of domestic producers.

The poultry industry had recently gone on an eight-day strike to press for lower taxes. Currently, the farms with a turnover of Rs 10 lakh need to pay taxes. The industry had sought that the ceiling be raised to Rs 60 lakh, but the government refused to accept the demand.