The local poultry industry has fought against all odds and proved to be self-sufficient during the ongoing unrest by supplying local production of chicken into the markets at cheapest possible rates.
According to Ghulam Muhammad, President of Kashmir Valley Poultry Farmers Association almost 80 per cent of the chicken sold in the Valley during last one month has come from local production.
“Despite not been given an industrial status by the state government, the poultry industry has risen to the occasion and shown that we have the ability to become 100 per cent self-sufficient,” he said
Cancellation of thousands of wedding celebrations during the unrest has led to a whopping loss of more than Rs 50 crores to the poultry industry. However, industry insiders say efforts by local producers to continue chicken supplies amid curfew has ensured that there is no dearth of chicken felt in the Valley.
“We voluntarily dropped the rates and sold chicken at Rs 50 per kg to retailers compared to Rs 100 per kg prices which prevailed prior to the unrest. We are happy that we had to play a role in managing unending supply of chicken to the Valley. This is a time to forget the profit and ensure that supplies reach to the end user without any hurdles,” said Ghulam Muhammad.
He accused police and security forces of creating hurdles for trucks coming into Kashmir with day old chicks.
“We rely majorly on supplies of one day chicks from outside the state. Police has been stopping vehicles carrying chicken on the national highway which has caused death of thousands of chicks. We request the authorities to let us ply trucks during night time,” he said.
A huge quantity of chicken available with the farmers immediately after Eid –ul-fitr was sold in the markets during the first month of the unrest, says Ghulam Muhammad. However, a drop in import of day old chicks due to the bottlenecks on the highway recently might cause shortage of chicken in Kashmir in days to come .
“The import of day old chicks have been impacted. A chick takes 30 days to become a full grown Chicken. But lack of one day chicks might cause shortage of Chicken in days to come,” says Ghulam Muhammad.
Meanwhile the nosedive in prices during the unrest has been welcomed by the consumers. “Since hundreds of wedding orders were cancelled so the price drop in chicken was imminent. Chicken in last few days in the retail market is being sold at almost Rs 90 per kilo against the Rs 130- Rs 150 per kg price prior to the unrest which has benefited the consumers,” said Fayaz Ahmad, a Hyderpora resident.
Similarly mutton dealers have also risen to the occasion and ensured that consumers don’t face any kind of shortage in mutton supplies despite curfew and restrictions. Number of vehicles carrying sheep which enter Kashmir daily has gone down from 60 trucks to almost four to five trucks which are imported at present.
According to Mehraj-u-din, General Secretary of All Kashmir Wholesale Mutton Dealers Association the trucks carrying sheep despite hurdles from police have been plying during night time.
He said although mutton dealers witnessed cancellation of orders from 5000 weddings during 15 days of unrest adding that mutton dealers stand by the protest calendar.
“We used to receive per day orders of Rs 5 crore prior to the unrest but despite order cancellations we have not lost our focus from the retail market. Every mutton dealer is not so bothered about the profit but availability of supplies,” Mehraj said.
