People are swearing off chicken in Chittoor, worried that they might contract the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19), leading to a sharp decline in sales of chicken at poultry markets.
Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department have repeatedly given assurances that eating chicken is absolutely safe, while restaurants have held ‘biryani melas’ in an effort to woo back their customers. However, these seem to have had little effect.
Foodies have now shifted to eating tank fish, which is selling like hot cakes for the last one week.
On Tuesday, chicken prices plummeted to ₹80 a kg (as against ₹190 in January) in several parts of Chittoor, while the price of tank fish stood at ₹150 a kg. The ‘king of fish’ – the Korameen variety – is commanding a whopping ₹350 a kg. The fish markets which generally see crowds only on Sundays are witnessing a full house almost on all week days. According to latest trends, around 40% of the chicken shops in the district are remaining closed on on week days, while only managing to sell a low quantity on the weekends.
The consumption of tank fish has peaked in eastern mandals compared to the western side of the district. Though local traders have kept sea fish on display, tank fish is the preferred choice. A seasoned sea fish supplier to Chittoor market said that the stocks have come down by more than 70% during the last fortnight, with the onslaught of tank fish. “Supply of small stocks would only bring us further loss. We want to wait till the first week of April, and also hope the coronavirus threat would have subsided by then,” he said.
Despite the depressing developments on the poultry front, the traders hope that thanks to the local body elections, sales would pick up in a couple of days. They are expecting a sudden boom in chicken prices with demand from roadside restaurants, particularly in rural areas.
In Nagari and Puttur municipalities, the chicken shop operators have been holding festivals with a variety of chicken dishes. Nagari TDP in-charge Gali Bhanuprakash Reddy joined their efforts to alleviate public fears against eating chicken. Interestingly, the focus of the poultry front unions is to involve the public figures in their campaign to dispel the public apprehensions about chicken consumption. It is estimated that the poultry industry with more than 150 farms, has suffered a huge loss of over ₹10 crore in the last one week in Chittoor district.
Meanwhile, fish markets are gearing up to make a quick buck and to tap the business potential before the COVID-19 fear dissipates.
