The bird flu scare in West Bengal seems to have found its echoes down south. In what is reminiscent of the 2006 period, egg exporters in south India, who contribute nearly 90% of exports, fear that their business may be hit if the official declaration comes through.
Two years ago when bird flu hit poultry farms in Maharashtra and last year in Manipur, egg exporters in the south had to bear the brunt in spite of having been free from the avian flu. ?Just for the past three months, egg export industry is recovering as countries have started lifting ban on imports from India after the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) declared India as a bird flu-free country,? National Egg Coordination Committee?s Namakal zone vice-chairman Singaraj said.
After OIE?s declaration, Muscat, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar lifted the ban, while Dubai is yet to import eggs from India.
Currently, 50 lakh eggs are exported every day from Namakkal belt in Tamil Nadu, accounting for 90% of total exports from India. ?The exports are expected to touch 60-70 lakh eggs per day by middle of this year as our overseas markets are expanding,? Singaraj said.
However, their export targets would be under threat if bird flu is confirmed in West Bengal. The death of some poultry birds reported from parts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts in West Bengal has a led to the bird flu scare. Samples of the dead birds have been sent to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal to find out whether they died due to avian influenza or some other disease, the ministry of agriculture said in a statement in New Delhi on Monday.
Meanwhile, All India Poultry Products Exporters Association secretary P Valsan said the government should declare Namakkal belt as a bird-flu free zone. The proposal to declare Namakkal as a bird flu free zone has been pending with the government for the past two years, he added.
