MUMBAI,
India - Nine poultry farmers have committed suicide and thousands more face penury as the threat of bird flu has hit farmers hard in the Western state of Maharashtra, according to the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC).
India has started culling operations in earnest with thousands of birds culled in the last few months. This had brought down the demand for poultry food and consequently hit the farmers very hard. The country's $7.8 billion poultry
industry has been the worst affected claiming that the last two months had resulted in losses totaling $2.2 billion.
The culling operations did manage to control the bird flu, but it has continued to rear its ugly head in Maharashtra. Beleaguered farmers have lost the only means of their livelihood and hence felt that suicide was the best course, "Nine farmers across India have committed suicide after their businesses suffered huge losses," said OP Singh, member of the NECC. These farmers took the fatal decision in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, in the last 15 days as their businesses collapsed. "Most small poultry owners start their
business by selling off land and jewellery. And when they can't recover their costs, they are left with no choice," Singh said.
He added that of the 123,000 poultry farmers in India, 70 percent were in a grave situation due to the outbreak of the H5N1 virus bird flu and the subsequent culling operations. Although the government and the poultry industry have been encouraging people to eat chicken that is properly, the public is too scared to respond. The wholesale price of chicken, which was 20 rupees a kg before bird flu hit has now fallen to just 4 rupees a kg, the poultry industry said. The government has assured
financial support to those farmers whose birds have been culled. However, Singh is not satisfied with this provision, "What about those whose birds are not being culled but who aren't able to sell their stocks?" he asked. With the threat of bird flu showing no signs of abating, these are tough times indeed for poultry farmers.
