Broilers at Tk 44-55 a kilo in the Covid shutdown: Tk 6-7 lakh lost in one week

In March 2020, when the general holiday to curb the coronavirus began, the poultry sector took a big hit. A young broiler farmer from Kalidas village in Sakhipur, Tangail, told Prothom Alo that for a week he had been selling chickens at Tk 44 to 55 a kilo. In his words, ‘Nobody wants to take the chickens at all. I sell to whoever at whatever price I can get.’ By farmers' reckoning, the production cost of a broiler at the time was a little over Tk 90 per kg. He said he had lost Tk 6 to 7 lakh in a single week. Yet in Dhaka's markets broilers were still selling at Tk 120–125 a kilo; with transport shut down, a big gap opened between farm prices and market prices. As chicken prices fell, demand for day-old chicks also collapsed; although hatchery owners were willing to give chicks away at Tk 2 each, no farmers could be found to take them. Farmers explain that when prices rise, production cannot be increased straight away, and when prices fall it cannot be cut at once either, because the chickens on the farm have to be fed and keep gaining weight. So in a shock like this, losses are almost inevitable.