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SL only country without Bird Flu, use it to export more poultry products, says Minster
All measures should be taken to promote local chicken and poultry products in the international market using the country's reputation as the only country not hit by bird flu, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
He said this during a progress review discussion on increasing production of milk and other animal products related to the poultry industry in the country that was held at the Ministry early this week.
“The country's poultry production industry will grow again in the next six months,” Minister Amaraweera said.
“In many countries, there is a high very demand for chicken meat and eggs produced in our country,” he claimed.
"Last year, the production of the poultry farming industry decreased due to cascading effect created by the ban on the importation of fertilizer,” he said.
“But by the end of last year, 36,000 parent animals were imported. Also, as of last December, 178,000 metric tons of maize had been imported, and cultivation activities had been organized with a target of 300,000 metric tons of maize in the 2023 spring and high season, so there is no possibility of a shortage of animal feed," he said.
“In the 2022–23 Maha season, 60,000 hectares of maize have been planted, and the country has enough rice stocks, so old rice and paddy stocks can also be used as animal feed, so there will be no shortage of animal feed.
“Apart from that, it is reported that the private sector farms currently have about 1.5 million chickens,” he said.
He said that due to the above-mentioned facts, the poultry industry would come up again in the next six months, and the import of eggs should not be continued. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
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