10 yrs on, egg exporters still in distress due to ban in Middle East

According to the poultry unit owners, continuing sluggish egg exports from Namakkal, the poultry hub of India, has put the famed industry in a tight spot. Exporters blamed the failure of the government to persuade the Middle Eastern nations to lift the ban on imports from India for the drastic downfall of the sector.

This ban was enforced following large scale outbreak of bird flu in north eastern part of the country. “Though World Health Organisation (WHO) has suggested to lift the ban within 90 days, the importing nations are yet to do so. Despite frequent representations, the Central government has also failed to hold negotiations those countries to save our ailing poultry sector,” said Dr PV Senthil, farmer cum exporter and General Secretary of Livestock and Agri Farmers Trade Association

Around 25 poultry firms in the district were exporting more than one crore eggs a day to 17 countries until a decade ago. Currently these firms have either shut down operations or switched over to other works.

To revive the industry, the exporters have sought for separate zoning of each state. “Though there has been no reported outbreak or threat of Avian influenza in Namakkal, the poultry farmers here continue to bear the brunt. This is because the entire nation is treated as one zone,” said Dr Senthil.

They wondered how exports from Namakkal, which is thousands of miles away from Tripura where there was an outbreak, can be considered unsafe. Many of the foreign nations may just be the size of a State in India and hence the same parameters shouldn’t be applied here, they said.

While the exporters were demanding to declare Tamil Nadu as a separate zone, the government has instead been pushing for compartmentalisation, which is certification of each farm.

“Getting certified is a costly and there are numerous small scale farms that cannot afford it. Lack of vision and understanding of the government has ruined the poultry export. If this trend continues, then very soon, the egg production will completely stop. Then, the situation may change towards importing turkey eggs and Chinese eggs,” said Dr Senthil.

After egg exports reached a nil status, exporters from here took pains to convince a couple of importing countries that Tamil Nadu is a disease free zone and now continue to do trade with them. Namakkal has around 1,000 egg farms and around three crore eggs are produced every day.

Poultry farmers are already reeling under severe loss as currently the production cost is higher than the egg price. While the production cost is around Rs 4 for an egg due to high cost of feed and labour, the farm gate price is only Rs 3 to Rs 3.50.