Karma Feeds is recalling “contaminated” poultry feeds manufactured towards the end of November following reports of chicken deaths and illness across the country. A notification posted this afternoon says the company would provide farmers with new batches of feed for free. The company sold around 540 tonnes of the supposedly contaminated feed to 14 districts.
The Company’s director, Chencho Wangyel said the company is recalling the feeds following a meeting with the Agriculture Ministry to prevent further damages. He also said a test conducted on the feeds at the company’s lab found all nutritional contents normal and no toxic chemicals were detected.
“As we could not detect anything abnormal in the feeds, we now doubt that the maize imported from India used for manufacturing the feeds could be heavily treated with pesticides for durability and to prevent it from pest attacks during the lean winter season,” he said.
He also said the company sent several teams to various districts to assess the damages. However, the company has not decided anything yet on compensating the farmers for the losses.
“Farmers have to hand over the feeds to our sale agents in respective districts. All the transportation charges will be borne by the company. Regarding the losses incurred by the death of birds, we cannot say we can compensate the farmers or not because we are yet to know the cause of the deaths. We are awaiting the Agriculture Ministry’s investigation report,” he added.
A community dairy farm in Bumthang also lost seven calves this week. The farm is also accusing the Karma Feeds of the deaths. Livestock officials treated the sick calves with antibiotic tablets and glucose but only two could be saved. Limb paralysis, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, shortness of breath and low body temperature were observed.
“After we stopped feeding them the feed, some have started recovering. They are under medical treatment right now. So it’s obvious that the death and sickness have been caused by the feed. If such toxic feeds keep coming into the market, our herd might get completely wiped off. We are now losing faith in Karma Feeds,” said Pem Namgay, the Farm Manager for Wobthang Community Dairy Farm in Tang Gewog.
Elsewhere, poultry farmers are the worst affected by the calamity. Some of them have started feeding rice and wheat to the birds. This poultry farm in Bumthang town lost more than 30 birds in the last week. And some are on the verge of death. The farm has now started giving imported feeds but it comes at a hefty price. Egg production has also dropped drastically in recent weeks.
“I used to collect seven cartons of eggs daily but now it is difficult to get even one. We don’t know how Karma Feeds is going to bear the losses we incurred and compensate the farmers all across the country,” said Prita Biswa, a Poultry Farmer in Bumthang.
“The imported feeds are very expensive and it is not readily available in the market. I only managed to get about four bags. We are now facing feed shortage,” said Kinley Drukpa, another Poultry Farmer in Tang Gewog.
The National Research and Development Centre for Animal Nutrition in Bumthang tested feed samples from a few districts. Sources say the results are ready but the centre is not willing to share the details.
Kipchu, Bumthang
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
