Hatchery owners charging higher prices for chicks

Small poultry farmers warned that they would stop buying layer and broiler chicks from 01 July if the hatchery owners charge prices more than the government fixed rates.

“The government has fixed broiler and layer chicks prices at Tk 30 and Tk 32, but the hatchery owners are selling the chicks at Tk 65 to Tk 70,” Khandaker Mohammad Mohsin, general secretary of National Council to Protect Poultry Farms of Bangladesh (NCPPFB) said.

The government fixed the prices of chicks on 31 March, when it was also decided that every carton of chicks should have price tag, effective from 15 June, for 3 months.

“But the hatchery owners still charge high prices of chicks flouting the government’s decision. This will ultimately destroy the industry,” said Mohsin, adding that they have decided to stop buying chicks at prices higher than the government fixed rates.

Syed Abu Siddique, president of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA), said lack of pragmatic policy support has been threatening the existence of the poultry industry.

Though the poultry sector makes significant contribution to the national economy it is now on the verge of collapse as unscrupulous businessmen are making huge money by taking advantages of absence of effective trade regulations and market monitoring, he said.

“The government should break this unholy business circle,” the BPIA president said.

Source: The Financial Express, Bangladesh