Hatchery Farms See Relief as Chick Prices Finally Cover Costs After Two Years of Losses

Chitwan. Chicks produced by hatcheries have finally fetched their cost price after two years. According to Rajendra Lamichhane, Central Chairman of the Nepal Hatchery Industry Association, broiler chicks are now being sold for NPR 90 per piece and layer chicks for NPR 160. The cost price for broilers is NPR 65 and for layers is NPR 120.

This has brought relief to the hatchery industry, which had been struggling by selling chicks below cost price for more than two years, he informed.

Prices have been gradually increasing since the month of Poush. Prior to this, there was a compulsion to sell broiler chicks for as low as NPR 25. When prices dropped, the industry had stopped chick production for two weeks.

More than 250 broiler chick and four layer chick producing hatchery industries have been shut down here, stated Chairman Lamichhane.

“Many industries have closed down due to not getting the right price. Currently, 100 broiler and 10 layer hatcheries are in operation. In one week, these industries produce around 3 million broiler chicks and 100,000 layer chicks. When production was higher, more than 4.2 million broiler chicks and 350,000 layer chicks were being produced weekly,” he said.

Lamichhane stated that local production is now finding a market because production has decreased recently and the import of chicks from Indian borders has been halted. According to him, chick prices are higher in India, and security checks at the border have been tightened.

Many small poultry farmers have already been displaced. While layer poultry was being raised in large numbers, Chairman Lamichhane mentioned that it is now easier to meet market demand as individual farmers have started raising up to seven lakh broiler chickens recently.

“Farmers here will get relief if the government stops illegal poultry products from the border areas. We have been lobbying for this for a long time,” he said.