Tsirang is one of the second-highest egg-producing districts. But the business looks bleak today. Beginning this month, some poultry farmers in Tsirang have started selling their birds to a dealer in Gelephu. The birds stopped laying eggs after they were fed supposedly contaminated feeds supplied by Karma Feeds in November last year.
The birds are slowly recovering. They were fed new feeds which were supplied by the company for free. But that has not helped the farmers. The birds are not laying eggs. And there is only one option.
An official from the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority in Tsirang said they issued permits to sell around 5,000 birds, so far.
“800 birds have been laying eggs for ten months in my poultry farm but 300 birds died due to the feed issue. So, I sold the remaining birds since I don’t get anything in return after spending a lot for feed,” said San Man Subba, a poultry farmer from Sergithang Gewog.
“We are not getting any income from poultry farms these days. So, we don’t know whether to continue feeding birds or to repay loans from our savings. Banks may take us to court for not repaying loans. As a result, we may have to sell our property such as lands to repay loans,” said Passang Tamang, a poultry farmer from Tsholingkhar Gewog.
“It would be grateful if Karma Feeds and the Department of Livestock could come up with a solution to dispose or find out a market to sell the unproductive birds. This will help farmers to reduce heavy losses,” said Hom Nath Tamang, an accountant of Tsirang Cooperative.
The dealer in Gelephu said he is supplying birds to farms in border towns in India. But some say otherwise.
BAFRA officials said they allowed farmers to sell the birds since many poultry farms have been feeding new feeds after the problem. An official said the meat would be safe for consumption.
As per the district livestock sector, more than 100 farmers lost about 27,000 birds after feeding supposedly contaminated feeds. The problem affected more than 100,000 birds in the district.
Meanwhile, the test results are being awaited for the feed samples sent abroad. Karma Feeds started providing monetary compensation to the affected farmers across the country.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
