Hard times for poultry sector

Country’s poultry sector is severely affected due to which nearly half of the industry is on the brink of bankruptcy

Effects of untrammelled corruption over a long period of time are now showing up in most spheres of the nation’s economy. The economy is in bad shape. Businesses are facing a myriad of difficulties mainly because of the increasing cost of inputs and contraction in demand as rising inflation is eroding incomes. Now the Poultry Association of Pakistan says the country’s poultry sector is being severely affected by various issues due to which nearly half of the industry is on the brink of bankruptcy. It says during the past two years input cost has been increasing almost ceaselessly turning the poultry trade unprofitable. Since poultry goods are perishable, the rise in the cost of production cannot be shifted on to consumers. As a result, it has become a buyers’ market. Poultry farmers and others associated with the trade are left with no option but to dispose of their goods at production cost but mostly at prices far lower than the production cost. Such conditions prevail during economic depression when even the cost of production is not realised. Now, most businesses are facing similar conditions.

The association says poultry farmers have suffered heavy losses during the past two years because of the rising input cost and shrinking demand for their products. Most of the farmers have lost even their entire working capital. Poultry farmers have demanded of the government to provide immediate relief to the trade in order to resuscitate it. Market conditions justify the distress call from poultry farmers. Closure of business and industries produces cyclical effects, and the worst of these is unemployment. So a relief package for the poultry sector is necessary to reverse the trend of increasing joblessness. Delay in announcing relief measures could result in further losses to poultry farmers and add to unemployment. Losses from delayed decisions leave their impact for long. The poultry sector might have come to this alarming juncture due to delay in taking corrective measures.