Chitwan, October 26

The ongoing Madhes agitation has dealt a huge blow to poultry farmers in Chitwan, which is known as the poultry hub of the country.

On the one hand, while chicken feed industries are facing shortage of raw materials that are imported from India and other countries, hatcheries have been suffering huge losses as they have been unable to transport poultry products to markets.

According to Rishiram Poudel, chairperson of Hatchery Industries’ Association, around 2.2 million freshly produced chicks had to be destroyed across the country as they could not be transported to the market due to prolonged Madhes agitation. “Chicks are hatched twice a week—on Sundays and Wednesdays—but this time in view of the Dashain festival they were hatched twice the usual number on Sunday,” he said, putting the total loss at over Rs 120 million. There are 162 hatcheries across the country. These hatcheries are facing a hard time as they need fuel to operate.