Kathmandu, April 12

Nepal Egg Producers Association (NEPA) has claimed egg producers across the country have faced losses worth Rs 600 million in the last two months due to the coronavirus.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak egg producers had already been affected due to the chicken holiday observed by the hatchery industry and now the coronavirus has further affected business, said NEPA President Shiva Ram KC.

“Although the consumption of eggs increased in the first week of the lockdown, obstructions in transportation have had an impact on egg supply in the market,”

KC said. According to him, the price for each unit of egg has been set at Rs 11.53 for farmers, however, the farmers are selling eggs at Rs 8.67 per unit at the moment.

Hoping for a price hike on the rate that farmers were getting egg producers had also supported the protest of the hatchery industry. However, only the price of chicken increased and that too only for traders and not for farmers.

As the demand has declined the price of chicken and egg has also declined to Rs 280 per kg and Rs 12 per unit, respectively in the market,” KC added.

“As supply has declined producers have also reduced production,” he said, adding, “Earlier around three million units of eggs used to be produced per day but production today has declined to two million to 2.5 million units.” Although eggs have become the first choice of consumers during the lockdown, transportation issues and lack of retail suppliers have compelled producers to store their produce at the factory itself, he added.

Meanwhile, KC has requested the government to include eggs in the government’s relief package. The Department of Livestock Services is also preparing to include eggs in the relief package prepared for the affected households in the country due to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has also tabled a proposal to the Ministry of Finance to bring a relief package for poultry and egg farmers too.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 13, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.