Due to the widespread shortage of poultry feed, poultry farmers and traders are worried that the supply of chicken and eggs may run out in a month.
At an urgent press conference held at the Karachi Press Club, Chaudhry Ashraf, the central chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, former chairman Ghulam Khaliq, Sindh-Balochistan zone chairman Saleem Baloch, and others expressed their grave concerns regarding the non-clearance of soybean shipments that had been stopped at Karachi Port.
According to Express Tribune, soybean and canola appear to be the two main ingredients in poultry feed, according to poultry owners. More than six lakh tonnes of soybeans that have not been authorised for export are currently at the port.
Additionally, in conjunction with the purchase of soybeans, poultry owners have paid importers more than $44 million. In order to restart the feed supply to the nation’s poultry sector, the ministry of food security and other ministries should right away resolve their conflict with soybean importers and issue orders for the clearance of soybeans at the port.
Presently, poultry owners in Pakistan generate 3.5 million eggs each day from 3.8 million chickens. If the problem of feed supply for the poultry industry is not immediately addressed, there is a potential that the supply of chicken and eggs may stop within a month.
More than 50 per cent of the poultry business is currently closed. If this sector is entirely shut down, which would result in the loss of nearly 2.5 million jobs, there will be a greater risk of food insecurity in the country.
