Hoax messages circulating on WhatsApp, warning people that they will contract the dreaded coronavirus if they eat poultry products, have led to prices of broiler chicken and eggs crashing in the city.
Retail outlets in the city did little business over the weekend, with even Sunday, the busiest day of the week, seeing no customers. There were little sales on Tuesday too, lamented retailers.
In some areas, retailers were seen taking live birds in vans to residential areas and selling them at ₹60 a kg.
Retailers in areas like Arilova and Yendada further reduced the price to ₹50 and ₹60 a kg, while some chose not to sell below ₹110 a kg despite a drop in footfalls.
“The price of broiler chicken at the poultry farms has dropped to around ₹10 from the normal price of around ₹80 a kg due to the coronavirus scare. We have asked all retailers in the city to reduce the price to around ₹50 a kg to regain the confidence of consumers,” Broiler Industry Welfare Association of Greater Visakha president Tatraju Adinarayana told The Hindu.
Netizens seem to be falling for the hoax messages despite assurances from the Government of India, Poultry Federation of India, National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) and other associations that eating poultry products has absolutely no link with coronavirus.
“We conducted a meeting on Tuesday to discuss steps will make consumers understand that eating chicken and eggs does not lead to coronavirus. We had asked the retailers to reduce the price, but most of them are unwilling to do so and are preferring to retain the live birds. We plan to conduct a meeting with all the retailers on Thursday to take stock of the situation,” Mr. Adinarayana said.
“The cost of feed will go up drastically if the birds are kept for long. Each bird has to be given about 120 gm of feed, which costs ₹3, every day. Feeding beyond a particular stage does not result in a proportionate increase in the weight of the hen. The birds attain the ideal weight in 42 days,” said Bharanikana Rama Rao, national trustee of NECC.
“The price of an egg dropped by 55 paise on a single day on Monday. A poultry farmer, who sells 1 lakh eggs a day, will lose ₹55,000. Reducing the price will enable at least the poor to consume more and create confidence among others,” Mr. Rama Rao said.
