Amid the struggle against Covid-19, the bird flu scare has increased the worries for the chicken traders at Ghazipur Murga Mandi here.
The traders said that if steps to control the disease are not taken then there will be a huge impact on the chicken business as the prices will fall significantly. As of now, bird flu has spread in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala after Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
There are around 88 shops in Murga Mandi here where around 100 trucks of chicken are traded every day.
A shopkeeper at the mandi, Mohammed Anas told IANS, “The bird flu will make a huge impact on price of chicken as people will stop eating it. Poultry farm owners will also suffer. They won’t be able to bear the expenses. It is a matter of great concern for us.”
Currently, the wholesale price of a live bird is Rs 90 per kg and due to the bird flu scare the price might come down to Rs 20-30 per kg. A customer has to pay Rs 160 for one kg of chicken and if the disease is not controlled then the price might fall to Rs 100 per kg.
President of the Ghazipur Wholesale Poultry Association Salauddin said, “No case of bird flu has been reported in the market here. Apart from this, no such case has been reported at the places from where birds come here.”
“Health check-up of every bird is done here at the market and then only they are sold,” he added.
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