Cold wave: Too many chickens falling sick this season, complain farmers in Sindh

Fruit, vegetable growers also being affected in rural Sindh.

NAUDERO: The cold and foggy weather across rural Sindh has caused heavy losses to poultry farmers, who said thousands of chickens have died during the last six days in Larkana, Ratodero, Dokri, Bakrani, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Miro Khan and other towns of Larkana and Kambar-Shahdadkot districts.

As a result, prices have gone up and chicken is being sold at Rs8,000 per 40 kilograms (kgs) in wholesale markets while the rates in retail markets are even higher.

There are about 100,000 chickens available in poultry farms in Naudero, said two farm owners, Hadi Bux Mangnejo and Habibullah Memon.

The ‘unexpected’ cold weather has, however, caused many hens to fall sick.

“Fever is the biggest cause of death in chickens because the treatment and medicines are too costly,” the poultry farmers said. The dead, or sick, chickens are thrown in the nearby Rice Canal in an effort to save the rest of the stock.

Mangnejo and Memon said that they are now supplying poultry birds on credit to retailers because they are scared of keeping the birds with them for too long. The chances of the chickens falling sick and dying are too high, they said.

Losses to guava orchard owners

Meanwhile, vegetable farmers, guava garden owners and their contractors are also suffering heavy losses due to the cold wave.

Landlord and owner of many guava gardens, Syed Sirajul Oliya Rashdi, said that the severe cold has caused the fruit to split into four pieces.

Moreover, labourers who work in these gardens are finding it hard to reach on time. Due to the thick fog and cold, the workers manage to reach around noon and since by 6 pm, darkness has set in, there is just not enough time for them to pick the fruit in time.

Too often, even the picked fruit is not packed and left out all night long.

Rashdi said that there are about 40,000 acres of guava gardens in Larkana district. Many of these gardens are located in Mahotta and adjoining villages, where more than 200,000 labourers are earning their livelihoods by working in the gardens.

Other vegetable crops, including chili, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard and coriander, have also been badly affected by the cold.

Growers complained that they are losing a lot of money because they are unable to take large quantities of their produce to the markets.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2011.