Chicken or the egg : ‘Useless’ hens to go under the hammer

25,000 hens from state-owned egg production farms to be sold ahead of winter.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

The Livestock and Dairy Development Department is going to auction 25,000 hens from government-owned poultry farms in 10 districts of the province, from September 18.

According to an official advertisement, 2,291 hens will be auctioned in Dera Ghazi Khan, 5,284 in Rawalpindi, 3,161 in Bahawalpur, 3,043 in Multan, 2,837 in Sargodha, 1,170 in Jehlum, 3,097 in Bahawalnagar, 1,270 in Gujrat, 2,447 in Attock and 3,159 hens will be sold in Mianwali.

A department official, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the decision to sell the hens ahead of winter would cause a surge in egg prices.

“Eggs are available in the market at the cost of Rs90 per dozen. However, once the hens are sold, the price will rise to Rs120 to 130 per dozen eggs,” the official said.

He said that the department had spent a huge amount of money on raising the hens. “Now when they are ready to lay eggs, the department has suddenly decided to get rid of them,” the official said.

The hens are kept at government-owned poultry farms. The government had earlier tried to sell these farms. However, the process was stopped on court orders.

The official said the move to auction the hens was part of efforts to sell the poultry farms. “Without the hens, the farms will stop making any profit. The department will then sell the farms as well,” the official said.

Dera Ghazi Khan Civil Society Network chairman Nazar Hussain expressed concern at the decision, stating the auction should be cancelled as it was not in public interest.

Dr Muhammad Akbar, in charge of a government-owned poultry farm in Dera Ghazi Khan, confirmed that more than 2,200 hens would be sold.

Livestock and Dairy Development Secretary Nasim Sadiq told The Express Tribune that the hens were being auctioned because their egg production had declined with age.

“We are going to sell the hens above the ages of 63 weeks because their egg production had declined,” he said.

On being informed that 16,000 out of the 25,000 hens were far below the age of 63 weeks, Sadiq said that such hens would not be sold. “After determining their prices in the auction, these hens will be given to flood-affected people,” he said.

Qazi Sajjad, a poultry farming expert, said that the hy-line white breed, used in state-owned farms, was not suitable for free-range farming as practiced in most villages. “It will be difficult for such hens to survive or produce sufficient quantity of eggs in villages,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2014.