Imported grain jack up chicken price

Imported grain jack up chicken price
eKantipur.com, 5-Jun-07

Lack of domestic production of major grain ingredients of chicken feed is pushing up chicken price beyond the reach of ordinary people, said experts at a program. The program is part of 16 commodity-wise events being organized jointly by National Agriculture Research and Development Fund (NARDF) and Agri-Business and Trade Promotion Multi-Purpose Cooperative (ABTRACO).

Dr Tilchandra Bhattarai, president of World Poultry Science Association-Nepal, said that nearly two billion rupees worth of maize, soyabean cake, sesame cake and sunflower cake were imported in this fiscal year alone. “These can be easily produced locally which can not only drive down the prices of chicken and eggs but also provide a lot of jobs,” he said.

Dr Dinesh Prasad Parajuli, senior livestock development official at the Livestock Production Directorate of Department of Livestock Services, said that imported grains lacked quality. “The high cost of feed has made chicken and eggs a lot more expensive than it should be. Local production of chicken and eggs could address food scarcity in remote parts of the country,” he said.

Bhattarai also called for a reduction in duties and taxes on imported grains as they caused costs go up by nearly 12 percent. “We have to pay Agricultural Development fee and every truck load of grain is charged Rs 10,000 of local development tax,” he said.

Experts asked government, non-government organizations and donor agencies to pay attention to this problem and work to encourage production of major food grains in Nepal.