Poultry farmers request for hatching eggs, but govt. shows no concern

The All-Island Poultry Association (AIPA) today requested the minister provide at least 13,500 freshly hatched chicks, as the hatching eggs were imported to Sri Lanka recently and also they requested to make them available through their association.

Advisor to the AIPA Mathalee Jayasekara told the media that 70,000 hatching eggs were imported into the country on two occasions, and those eggs were sent to state-owned poultry farms.

"After 21 days, chicks will emerge from eggs and those chicks could be distributed among the poultry farmers. This could be done on four batches of 13,500 each," he said.

Due to economic issues, a large number of small and medium-scale poultry farms have been forced to close down. Therefore, the AIPA advisor requested that the Minister grant them the opportunity to distribute at least 13,500 newly hatched chicks among the small-scale poultry farms to strengthen their business.

Jayasekara also requested the minister to provide the chicks to farmers at a reasonable price, as the decision was taken to sell the chicks at Rs. 415 each. Chicks are being sold at Rs. 500 in the black market.

"The poultry farmers were not considered for any concession to continue with their livelihood, Jayasekara said.

Therefore, he requested the minister to provide at least these chicks at a concessionary price to uplift the plunging poultry industry. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)