Summer showers revive heat-affected egg production in Namakkal

COIMBATORE: Rains gave much needed relief to aggrieved poultry farmers in Namakkal as elevated temperature during summer took its toll on egg production because of largescale mortality of birds.

Poultry farmers have estimated around 90 lakh birds to have perished from heat stress due to long days of soaring heat preceding the arrival of rains.

“Even though it is common for birds to die during summer, their death was unexpectedly high this time, like never before. Because of high mortality of birds, egg production dropped by more than 20 per cent that is from five crores to 3.5 crores. However, rains have come as a blessing in disguise to the poultry farmers since the temperature began to drop providing a conducive climate for birds to grow,” said ‘Vangili’ Subramaniam, president of Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Marketing Society.

In the panic-stricken poultry sector, the situation is gradually returning to normalcy because of a drop in temperature following rains. “Over the last one week, egg production increased significantly by one crore to reach 4.5 crore. The normal egg production is in the range of five crore. A bird that consumes a meager 80 grams of feed during high temperature now consumes upto 110 grams,” he added.

In a reversal of trend following a drop in production, the farm gate price of eggs, which crashed to Rs 4.10 paise per piece last month had suddenly rose to Rs 4.40 on May 2 and further to Rs 5.80 now.

“Once again the situation is getting worse as eggs are sold by farmers at a much lesser rate due to increased production in recent days. Even though eggs are priced at Rs 5.80 as fixed by the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), the buyers procure them for a lesser rate of Rs 5.65, which is a drop by 15 paise. It is called ‘egg minus rate’,” said Subramaniam.

In Salem alone, over two lakh egg laying birds died in over 40 farms located in Thalaivasal and its surrounding areas. “Hence, egg production came down from 23 lakh eggs per day to 18 lakh eggs in the second week of this month. However the situation has improved now following a drop in temperature,” said Vasantharajan, member of Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association.

Even the farm gate price of eggs would have skyrocketed further and crossed over Rs 6, if there was supply to noon-meal in schools.

“In addition to holidays for schools, exports have also come down from 15 crore eggs per month to 10 crore eggs due to high prices of eggs. Exports are expected to become normal from June. The outbreak of bird flu in neighbouring Kerala does not have any impact on the poultry sector as farmers here maintain better hygiene standards on par with international standards,” said S Venkat, another poultry farmer.