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BIRD FLU AND TAMILNADU
Thanks to the timely action taken by the authorities in Tamil
Nadu , to check the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird
flu in the state, there has been no incidence of bird flu here.
All necessary precautions were in place and poultry farmers were
asked to appraise authorities in case of the slightest
suspicion. The authorities took very strict and stringent
efforts for maintaining the bio-security at the farm level.
However, the impact of the happenings in West Bengal could not
be avoided. As far as the world outside is concerned, West
Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the same. For them, Indian birds are
affected. And nothing more. Tamil Nadu falls an unfortunate
victim if and when any other part of India is affected. It might
be recalled that when Maharashtra was affected in 2005, there
was a huge loss for the poultry owners of Tamil Nadu for full
five months. And now when West Bengal is affected, the Tamil
nadu poultry owners again have to bear the brunt, for no fault
of theirs.
The fear of Bird Flu, the sharp increase in the price of the
chicken feed, and decline in the price of eggs have all come as
a big blow to these owners.
Times have changed. Those were days when a poultry had, say
three to five thousand birds. Today, there are over three lakh
birds. In the Namakkal area of Tamil nadu over three crore birds
are grown. They yield over twenty five million eggs per day.
In the last twenty five days, the poultry owners of Namakkal
have had a loss of Rupees six hundred million. This is, by any
standard an unbearable loss for these people. Though they were
sold for One rupee thirty paise per egg, , the price has now
fallen to 90 paise. Almost all the poultries have been set up
with Bank loans. They are now unable to repay the loans.
They can continue this business only if the Centre and the State
come to their rescue in a big way. India should be divided into
several zones, so that even if one area is affected by bird flu,
the other zones will not face any loss. Whenever there is a
sharp fall in prices, grants, subsidies, interest waivers and
loan waivers should be offered.
Will the Government come forward to save our poultries?. H Ramakrishnan
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