KATHMANDU, JULY 5 Prices of chicken and eggs in the domestic market has surged after farmers stopped hatching chicks. Chicken cost has shot up to Rs 360 per kg from Rs 250 earlier, while eggs cost Rs 380 per crate of 30 eggs, a hike of Rs 100 in a few days. Krishna Shrestha, a chicken seller from Jorpati, said production of chicken in the market had declined due to which chicken was in short supply. “Poultry farms and egg factories are not operating in a full-fledged manner as the number of workers has come down due to the coronavirus pandemic,” he said, adding, “Hatcheries have reduced production which has subsequently led to the price of chicken and eggs sky-rocketing.” He added that farmers had even stopped producing chicks. “Hatching chicks has almost halted due to low demand. Moreover, the demand normally declines during Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August) as people stop consuming meat and meat products due to religious beliefs,” Shrestha added. According to the Nepal Chicken Sellers Association, prices of chicks have declined from Rs 55 to Rs 60 per unit to Rs 40 to Rs 45 per unit. Due to low demand prices of chicks have declined and consequently hatcheries have scaled down production, the association stated. Earlier, the Nepal Hatchery Industries Association had estimated that price of chicken could reach as high as Rs 500 per kg in the next one month. “Chick hatching has completely stopped due to which production has drastically dropped. Demand, however, was high a few weeks ago, but it’s going down again” said Tika Ram Pokhrel, president of the association, adding that prices of chicken and eggs would definitely rise further in the near future. Meat prices had already risen after the lockdown, as the demand had increased while production and supply had dropped. A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 6, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.