Chicken crisis worsens as price reaches Rs705 per kg

Rawalpindi: The price of chicken (meat) breached the Rs700 mark on Thursday as one kilogram of the poultry meat was sold between Rs700 to Rs705 at different retails shops making it the highest price of the commodity in the twin cities.

On the other hand, poultry farmers claim that over 50 per cent of farms have been closed therefore people were not only facing the worst shortage of chicken but also high prices. People belonging to different walks of life strongly protested against ever-increasing chi­cken prices and demanded of the government to control it immediately.

According to the farmers, if the feed crisis persists, then chicken farming might completely stop very soon, which would result in a further rise in the price. The broiler feed mills across the country have been shut down due to the authorities' refusal to clear the imported genetically modified soybean, which is a basic ingredient of chicken feed. The wholesale dealers told ‘The News’ that if government does not consider this issue and resolve it, people will get one-kilogram chicken meat at Rs1000 soon. Government should take up this issue to provide chicken meat at cheaper prices, the wholesale dealers warned.

‘The News’ conducted a survey that chicken meat is very costly here in Rawalpindi and Islamabad than in all other cities. The chicken meat is selling at Rs575 per kilogram in Lahore while in Gujranwala it is selling at Rs580. The poultry farmers claim that feed is not available even for egg-laying layer chicken, which is making it difficult to meet the demand for eggs in winter. Due to this, the price of eggs is also going up and there are fears that supplies to the market might also be stopped in the near future. Citizens have demanded of the government to resolve the poultry crisis to ensure the availability of poultry products to the public at affordable prices.