After more than two months, birds in poultry farms in Tsirang have started laying eggs. In late November last year, supposedly contaminated feed killed nearly 80,000 birds and affected more than 400,000 birds in most parts of the country. Since then, birds stopped laying eggs affecting the business severely.
Tsirang is slowly living up its name as one of the highest egg producing districts. One can now see eggs in poultry farms like this in Tsholingkhar Gewog.
The business is now making slow progress. Most of the birds that survived the incident are now laying eggs, bringing back smiles on farmers’ faces. They are fed new batches of feed supplied by Karma Feeds.
“Now birds lay eggs but a few birds are yet to give eggs. The problem has brought egg production to zero for over two months. It has been three weeks now after birds started laying eggs,” said Passang Tamang, a poultry farmer.
“Like before, we cannot generate a huge profit, one thing is because of the pandemic and another is the egg production has improved compared to last time but it is still not 100 per cent. Only 60 to 70 per cent of birds are laying eggs and it is quite hard for us to generate a huge income,” said Jitendra Rizal, another farmer.
“Egg production is almost normal now. But we have to stay in constant fear of facing a similar problem in the future because the problem has caused a huge loss to us this time,” said San Man Subba.
The egg production gradually picks up in Tsirang and other districts. Poultry farmers here say they may be able to meet the demand in the country now hinting that the import should stop. Tsirang alone has more than 170 farms that supply eggs.
“It will cause a huge loss to poultry farmers if we keep on importing eggs. This is because we have been already into a complete loss for over two months and now even the price of poultry feed has increased. I have eggs in stock but my dealer didn’t take them since the price of eggs in the market is not good these days,” said Passang Tamang.
Last month, the government decided to import eggs from India as an interim measure to address the shortage. The Department of Livestock and the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority has sent feed samples to India and Thailand for testing. The results of various tests are still being awaited.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
