As of Wednesday, March 11th, the cases in Karnataka has risen up to 4 and reports of first
death coming in, a poultry farmer in Gokak buried truckload of chickens alive on his farm.
A video of the farmer burying the chickens has gone viral that is being shared as prevention to stop the spread of coronavirus. As the COVID-19 arrived in the state of Karnataka, the prices of chicken fell drastically.
This caused desperation in the farmer and forced him to do the act. Prior to the corona panic, the price of a chicken in the state varied from Rs. 50 to 70 per kilogram which was profitable. The price now, after nearly four days of corona scare, the prices saw a steep fall to Rs. 5 to 10 per kilogram. Ideally, chickens fetch more profit when they are 42
to 45 days old.
Najeer Ahmed Makandar, the 47-year-old poultry farmer, loaded 6,000 chickens onto his truck, which were about a month old, and dumped them into a pit in Nulsoor of Gokak taluk.
According to him, the fall in price meant he would neither make profits from the chicken nor he could spend more to maintain them. He had reportedly spent 6 lakh rupees already on their food and medicine.
In the video shot by him, he goes onto express the struggle and plight of poultry farmers in the state because of the novel coronavirus. Belgaum farmers contribute nearly 10 percent of total chickens in the state.
Sources in the poultry industry confirmed the plight of the chicken farming industry by sharing a key statistic. As per the statistic, it costs around 75 rupees to produce a kilogram of chicken and if the farmers are forced to sell the same for 5 or 10 rupees, they will have to look elsewhere for their livelihood.
The sad part, however, is that while the farmers are suffering, the traders continue to sell
chicken at 70 to 120 rupees. The novel COVID-19 may be a virus for our body but it is bringing down everything built by humans and there isn’t a better time for us to stand together.
