Bihar: Bird flu scare hits sale of chicken
PATNA: In wake of the bird flu scare, sale of poultry products has dropped in the city as residents are avoiding chicken and eggs as a precautionary measure to ward off the bird flu.
Chicken vendors said despite reducing the price of broilers, there is a drop of 30 to 40% in sale of chicken in last three to four days.
Hamid Ali, a chicken shop owner near Station Road said, “Sale has dropped by 40 to 50% in last five days. Chicken is sold at ₹130 per kg which was ₹160 last week. Despite fall in price, demand has not increased.”
“Demand for livestock is uncertain now. On an average, we sell 50kg chickens on a daily basis which has dropped to 10 to 15kg chickens now,” he added.
Another meat seller near Boring Road, Vikas, said, “Footfall of customers has decreased by 50%. Even on weekend, sale has not improved much. Around 100 people visit my shop daily but hardly 20 customers are visiting these days.”
We have dropped the price by 30%. Last year, we suffered huge loss due to bird flu and Covid-19 outbreak. We might have to face similar loss this year due to fear among people,” he rued.
Bailey Road resident Rita Gupta said, “Though it is said that well-cooked chicken is not harmful, fear still lingers in mind. After Covid-19 outbreak, people have become more health conscious. We have switched to fish and mutton.”
Meanwhile, department of animal husbandry has dispelled the fear bird flu outbreak in the state. “No suspicious bird death has been reported in past two days nor any bird flu case has been confirmed so far. Animal husbandry officials are on vigil in every district to keep a tab on bird flu”, said a senior animal husbandry officer.