Violence, curfew: Chicken, fish, dairy farms face feed crisis, sales decline

Fish, chicken meat, egg and milk producers are facing severe trouble in marketing their products and purchasing feeds due to supply chain disruptions and interruptions in financial transactions amid nationwide curfew imposed to control the violent situation in connection with quota protests.

As transport movement is halted, farmers are failing to deliver their products to the major markets in Dhaka and other cities, which resulted in selling the products at a lower price in local markets.

However, in Dhaka, the prices of these products have increased due to a supply shortage.

Farmers from Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Sherpur, Jamalpur and other districts say they are facing a crisis of cash money as banks are closed amid the general holidays declared by the government, and mobile banking services are not working due to a nationwide internet blackout for the last five days.

Companies are not delivering chicken, fish and animal feeds amid the crisis situation, they say.

Bangladesh Poultry Association President Sumon Hawlader told TBS, "Companies are not selling feeds on credit to farmers. Delivering feeds has not been possible even if some companies want as vehicle movement is halted."

"The prices of broiler chicken have decreased to Tk130 per kg, which was Tk160 per kg four-five days earlier," he said.

However, in Dhaka, the prices of chicken have increased by Tk20-Tk30 per kg to Tk200-Tk210. The prices of eggs have also surged by Tk15-Tk20 per dozen reaching Tk170-Tk175.

Fish farmers across the country are also facing the same troubles as the chicken and egg producers.

The fish farmers in Rajshahi say they have not been able to deliver any fish to Dhaka in the last five days.

According to the Department of Fisheries, Rajshahi, fish farmers in the district have so far incurred a loss of around Tk70 crore.

Moshiur Rahman, fish farmer from Rajshahi's Poba upazila, said several hundred maunds of fish are ready to be sold in his ponds but there is no way to deliver them to Dhaka amid the curfew.

"The feeding cost for fishes in my ponds is around Tk3 lakh per day," he added.

Another fish farmer from Poba, Shahidul Islam, said fishes worth around Tk1-Tk1.5 crore needed to be sold immediately. But there's no buyers in Rajshahi right now. "No truck driver here wants to go to Dhaka," he said.

Md Asaduzzaman, upazila fishery officer in Poba, told TBS, "In normal times, around 300-350 vehicles transport carp fishes to Dhaka from Rajshahi every day, mostly from Durgapur and Poba upazilas. Each of the vehicles carries a maximum of 1,200 kg of fish."

"As vehicle movements have been halted amid the curfew, fish farmers here are counting huge losses," he added.

Shamsul Alam, a tilapia farmer from Mymensingh, said, "We are catching less fish from the ponds. As a result, the prices have increased by Tk50-Tk100 at the production stage."

As the demand of milk and milk products have declined, the prices of milk have decreased by Tk10-Tk15 per litre at the production stage.

In Sirajganj, one of the dairy hubs in the country, farmers are selling milk at Tk40-Tk45 per litre, which was Tk55 in normal time.

Usually, milk and milk products companies collect around three lakh litres of milk from around 33,000 farms in the district per day.

Dairy farmers say in normal times, milk worth Tk1.65 crore is sold in the district per day, which has come down to Tk1.35 crore in recent days.

Sources say companies such as Milk Vita, Arang, Pran and local milk processing companies have reduced collecting milk from farms in Sirajganj amid the nationwide violence and subsequent curfew. Many companies have even stopped collecting milk.

Zakir Hossain, dairy farmer from Sirajganj's Salak area, said selling milk has been a challenge as there's no buyer right now.

Abdul Malek, who produces various milk products in Ullapra upazila of the district, said he needs around 100 maunds of milk everyday but has stopped purchasing milk for the last several days.

Md Amir Siddique, manager of Naba Cattle and Dairy Farm in Rajshahi, said they produce around 1,500 litres of milk per day. But as sales have declined, around 5,000 litres of milk have remained unsold in the last several days.