The poultry products dealers in and around Raipur continue to suffer loss in sales in the aftermath of the Avian flu scare following outbreak of the disease in two Government poultry farms in Chhattisgarh early last month.
‘Sale of broiler chicken continues to remain sluggish with barely 40 to 50 per cent of sales taking place currently from the retail outlets in and around Raipur,’ President of Chhattisgarh Poultry Dealers Association Rajeev Brahmankar told The Pioneer.
He said that the private poultry farmers became the unsavoury victims of a State-wide Avian flu scare which had nothing to do with private poultry farms as the disease outbreak took place in Government poultry farms in Durg and Bastar districts. During the peak of the Avain flu scare, private poultry farmers incurred as estimated sales loss of Rs 10 crore per day. ‘The customers are gradually returning back to buy chicken at the outlets but the demand still remains sluggish,’. Poultry birds sold in Chhattisgarh per day is estimated at 20 lakh while in Raipur, Bhilai, Durg and Rajnandgaon region itself the total daily sales number 8 lakh birds, Brahmankar said. The demand for poultry birds had remained depressed since last month as festivals followed and there are more to follow in the coming months, he said.