City likely to face shortage of poultry, eggs

Poultry traders say blocked soybean shipments threaten the industry

KARACHI:

Poultry farmers and traders have feared that the supply of chicken and eggs may run out in a month due to the nationwide shortage of poultry feed.

The central chairman of Pakistan Poultry Association, Chaudhry Ashraf, former chairman Ghulam Khaliq, Sindh-Balochistan zone chairman Saleem Baloch, and others, held an emergency press conference at Karachi Press Club and expressed their serious concerns over the non-clearance of soybean shipments, halted at Karachi Port.

According to poultry owners, soybean and canola are apparently the two key components in poultry feed. At the moment, there are more than six lakh tonnes of uncleared soybeans at the port. Additionally, poultry owners have paid more than $44 million to importers in connection with the import of soybeans. The ministry of food security and other ministries should immediately address the issue they have with soybean importers and give directives for the clearance of soybeans at the port in order to immediately resume the feed supply to the country's poultry industry.

Currently, 3.8 million chickens and 3.5 million eggs are produced daily by poultry owners across the country. There is a chance that the supply of chicken and eggs may come to a halt within a month if the issue of feed supply for the poultry sector is not immediately addressed.

Currently, more than 50 per cent of the poultry industry is shut. The danger of food insecurity in the nation will increase if this industry is completely closed that will render about 2.5 million people jobless.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2022.