“We have projected the growth of broilers (raised for meat only) and layer chickens (those who can lay eggs as well) by 31 percent for next six months taking into account the growth during the previous six months from mid-April to mid-October,” Dr Til Chandra Bhattarai, a poultry researcher, told Republica.[break]
According to Bhattarai, population of parent broilers has been projected to rise by 38 percent to 1.11 million over the projected year. Similarly, number of parent layers will rise by 18.6 percent to 102,700 over next six months.
The number of broilers is expected to shoot up by 30 percent to 75.1 million whereas the number of layers will swell to 8.3 million, up 41 percent compared to last year´s figure.
“The total number of chickens - both broilers and layers - is estimated to shoot up by 31 percent to touch 84 million during the year until coming mid-April,” said Bhattarai, who is also the former president of Nepal Forum of Poultry Entrepreneurs, an umbrella organization of Nepal poultry entrepreneurs.
Similarly, production of eggs has also seen a double-digit growth in the last six months with the daily production of eggs estimated to cross 3.5 million by the end of the year.
Over the year, number of big hatcheries increased by 18 to 112, making greater availability of chicks for farmers. Last year, farmers had faced acute shortage of chicks as the hatcheries failed to meet the demand.
Experts have also projected the poultry turnover to grow to over Rs 50 billion by the end of the year, thanks to rising demand for poultry products. Researchers said investments in poultry have increased by Rs 3 billion with the opening of over 5,000 new poultry farms, hatcheries and feed manufacturing centres across the country over the year.
With the rising demand for poultry products, existing farms are expanding their operations whereas fresh investment is also increasing in emerging poultry sectors such as Nuwakot, Kavre, Kathmandu, Udaypur, Surkhet, Kohalpur, Hetauda, Baglung, Pokhara, among others. Total investment in the poultry sector is estimated to be around Rs 32 billion till this year.
Chicken becomes dearer
Declining stock of ready chicken in the farms has driven up the chicken price by Rs 15 per kg to Rs 185 per kg in the capital, effective from Monday.
Kathmandu-based poultry entrepreneurs have jacked up the price citing dwindling supplies in the market due to declining chicken stocks, which piled up during the festive season. With the fresh rise in the price, farm gate price of live broiler has increased to Rs 145 per kg from Rs 135 per kg.
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