Cyclone Tauktae deals fourth blow to Raigad poultry farmers in a year

There seems to be no end to the sufferings of the poultry farm owners in Raigad district the largest supplier of poultry in the state In the past one year they have been hit by backtoback misfortunes causing heavy financial lossesIt started last February when rumours about Coronavirus spreading from chicken and birds forced many owners to sell their poultry for as cheap as Rs 5 per kilogram then the devastating cyclone Nisarga in June destroyed many poultry farms and killed thousands of birds The bird flu scare hit them in January this year and now cyclone Tauktae wreaked havoc on their farms once againCyclone left behind a trail of destruction at the poultry farms and killed many chickens and chicks as well Now with the absence of insurance cover and no support from the state government the owners are worried about their fate They were already struggling to find a market for their stock and dealing with massively hiked prices of basic soybean residue soybean cake which they use to feed to chicken Its price has risen to Rs 70 from Rs 35Rajesh Karad 45 from Pen in Raigad said ldquoI had 9000 birds on my poultry farm at Ambegaon but I had to move them to my other farm at Amrapur village about 7 km away a day before the cyclone hit I had to hire three vehicles and 13 men for the transportation and in the process lost 50 birds Last year I incurred heavy loss when Nisarga caused structural damage to the poultry and killed thousands of birdsrdquoAlso Read Maharashtra Raigad bears the brunt as cyclone Tauktae howls past Mumbai towards GujaratOn the hiked price of soybean residue he said I would have to pay Rs 1750 lakh including GST of 5 per cent that was imposed recently for a truck load of about 25 tonnes of soybean residue which earlier cost just Rs 9 lakh This would last only 15 days which means I need to spend almost Rs 35 lakh a month only on the feed Cost of maize has also gone up to Rs 19 per kg from Rs 16 per kgrdquoOn top of that the restriction on opening time from 7 am to 11 am is leading to losses as the business picks up only after 9 am to 10 am Karad said adding that despite the lockdown there is demand for chicken He said the sale price of per kg of chicken has also increased to at Rs 75 from Rs 45 earlierNandkumar Mayekar a poultry farm owner from Cheaul village in Alibaug incurred a loss of over 1 lakh The cyclone damaged roofs of his farm a part of which got filled with nearly 3 to 4 inches of rainwater and over 4000 chickens and chicks diedldquoWe never imagined the pressure of gusty winds and heavy rainfall that would create a mayhem to an extent that huge trees get uprooted roofs blown away and damages beyond expectation At my poultry farm the roof broke after a branch fell on it and within hours nearly 3 to 4 inches of water filled inside the farm killing the chicken and chicks kept in one batch within a few minutes We are only into farming broiler chickens which are very delicate to handle even though each bird might be around 12 inch tall they got scared with 4 inch of water and some died of that fear I had incurred loss of birds and poultry bothrdquo said the heartbroken farmerThe animal husbandry officials inspected his poultry farm and have submitted a report to the higher authoritiesKunal Pathre a business partner in Ms KuKooChKu Poultry Farm in Alibaug said they were spared this time Last years cyclone had killed 35000 of their birds he added However the lockdown has adversely impacted the poultry business he said adding that the government should provide financial aid if the Covid19 curbs would continueUnder the National Disaster Management Act the government gives a compensation of merely Rs 5000 per poultry whereas farmers spend about Rs 300Rs 400 per sq feet for construction of sheds and each shed usually costs a few lakhsKarad said ldquoThe government should at least remove the 5 per cent GST on the feed which is about Rs 87500 per truck of feed at present and allow shops to open for longer hours in both morning and evening for sale to pick upOther sideDr Subhash Mhaske joint commissioner Animal Husbandry Konkan Region said ldquoTwo cows and 4068 chickens were killed in the cyclone resulting in a loss of around Rs 649240 in Raigad district whereas two bullocks and two goats were killed in Ratnagiri district and the estimated loss is around Rs 67000 and 1350 birds and 40 chicks were killed in Sindhudurg of leading to a loss of about Rs 88800 A report has already been submitted to the state government and district administration for record and compensationrdquoMhaske added ldquoWe have already made a request to the government for additional time slots for chicken shops at least during the weekends The proposal was to be mooted in the state cabinet and a decision is awaitedrdquoRaigad district has around 2500 poultry farms and an average of 35 lakh chicken are sold monthly for around Rs 5 to Rs 6 crore which is the main source of income for families in poultry business workers and even large companies he saidMhaske further added ldquoWe have already made a request to the government requesting for giving some additional time slots for chicken shops at least during the weekend The proposal was to be mooted in the state cabinet and a decision is awaitedrdquoGuardian minister speaksAditi Thatkare guardian minister of Raigad district said ldquoPoultry is one of the largest source of livelihood for people in Raigad and we are equally concerned with the extent of losses that they had to incur during Nisarga and even now in Tauktae We have directed the concerned poultry officials under the Animal husbandry department to prepare a proper assessment report for the damages and losses We are hopeful that the poultry farmers need to be compensated for their losses and for this both the central and state government need to consider our request and ensure that they are compensated for the structural damagesloss etcrdquoAlso we would request the central and state governments to either waive off or reduce the GST on the poultry feed which is already going through a tough time said ThatkareShe added ldquoThe state government decides on the extent of lockdown and timing of outlets the district administration has no role in the same However we may put forward the request from the poultry farmers for extension of time but the state needs to decide as COVID19 protocol is the need of the hourrdquo