Some poultry farmers in Sarpang are shutting their doors as their cooperative is no longer marketing their eggs. According to them, this is a result of soaring production costs, particularly the feed and declining egg prices in the market.
About 10 poultry farmers, who are members of Sarpang Layer Cooperative, closed their businesses about two months ago.
Some of them have switched to mushroom farming to eke out a living. Some others are looking for an alternate source of income.
“The rise in feed price and decreasing egg price in the market has forced me to sell 2,000 hens as I incurred a loss of Nu 14,000 every week. I might revive the business only if things improve. But as of now, I have tried growing mushrooms,” laments one of the poultry farmers in Shompangkha Gewog, Nima Lama.
“We were unable to sustain our poultry farming due to the increase in feed price and the cooperative also stop collecting eggs from us. With no income in hand, we left the business,” tells, another poultry farmer, Sita Rai.
Sarpang Layer Cooperative stopped collecting eggs from their members and supplying to districts like Thimphu, Zhemgang, Trongsa and Wangdue four months ago.
According to the cooperative, they suffered losses as eggs do not fetch a good price. They pay Nu 1,850 for one carton box of eggs from their members and sell them at Nu 1950 to 2,000 in the market. This barely recovers transportation and logistic costs.
As a solution to tide over the problem, the layer cooperative is collaborating with other similar cooperatives within Sarpang and from other districts like Thimphu, Chhukha and Paro.
They are in process of registering as a federation with the Department of Agriculture and Marketing Cooperatives under the Agriculture Ministry.
Once that is done, the cooperative will resume business as usual.
Earlier, Sarpang used to be one of the leading districts to produce eggs in the country.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Pema Lhaden
