Chicken consumption down 33 percent in Ktm valley

Consumption of chicken in the capital has come down as banda affected normal lives of people and banda enforcers forced restaurants and hotels - major consumers of chicken -- to shut down their business.
Daily consumption of chicken in the capital hovers around 250,000 kg. According to Jung Bahadur GC, president of the National Chicken Sellers´ Association (NCSA), daily consumption has come down by as much as 33 percent due to banda.
“Demand from major markets has slowed due to banda and other forms of strikes called by various groups over the past few days,” GC said, adding, “If the situation remained the same for coming few days, farmers will have no option but to dump their chicken ready for market.” GC also said chicken sales also dropped due to drop in daily wage earners´ income owing to banda.
According to the association, hotel and restaurants consume 40 percent of total chicken sales in the capital.
“Drop in sales has directly affected poultry farmers. They have already started dumping chicks due to shortage of feed,” GC said, adding that series of banda over the past week has disrupted transportation of feed and other inputs.
“We can´t store feed in warehouse for more than 15 days,” GC said. “Many poultry farmers have expressed worries about shortage of feed in their farms.”
Price of chicken, however, has increased despite decline in consumption. Last week, poultry entrepreneurs raised chicken price by 8.3 percent to Rs 260 per kg.