Poultry farmers in the Kurunegala and Puttalam districts of the North Western Province (NWP) produce 70 percent of the egg needs of the country.
About 95,000 small-scale poultry farmers in the NWP are now engaged in this industry as a source of self-employment. The ever-increasing cost of veterinary drugs and relevant services, high cost of raw materials used to manufacture poultry feed and higher labour charges have forced small poultry farmers to give up the industry as they suffer heavy losses continuously and they are unable to maintain their farms profitably any further.
“If the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Economic Development don’t pay prompt attention to help us overcome our present burning challenges, even reluctantly, we are compelled to say goodbye to this source of self-employment before long, Chairman of Kurunegala District Small Scale Poultry Farmers’ Organization, S.M. Premaratne told members at meeting of members in Bingiriya, Kurunegala.
“Today, the wholesale price of an egg is Rs. 8 and it was Rs. 11 two weeks ago. On average, a poultry farmer now faces a loss of Rs.5,000 per day,” he said.