Malaysian farmers threaten to dump chicks
Malaysian farmers threaten to dump chicks
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysian poultry farmers have
threatened to dump two million chicks at the Agriculture Ministry
to protest against a slump in chicken prices, the national
Bernama news agency reported yesterday.
After earlier dropping a threat to kill a million birds, 20
affiliate members of the Federation of Poultry Breeders
Associations of Malaysia meeting yesterday agreed to the dumping
action in two weeks.
"If the issue is not solved...we may dump the chicks at the
ministry," a federation official was quoted over a private
television station.
The meeting overturned an earlier decision by federation
president Chia Keok Kong which blocked a bid by members to send a
million chicks to the ministry yesterday.
The farmers had earlier dropped another plan to gas or bury
the chicks alive after protests from horrified animal lovers and
consumer groups.
Seven lorries filled with more than 800,000 day-old chicks
from four states had already arrived at the federation's office
just outside Kuala Lumpur, Bernama reported.
Private television station TV3 showed people arriving at the
federation's office to take the chicks home in the boots of their
cars.
The government on Thursday tried to solve the issue by
appealing to its citizens to eat as many chickens as they could.
"We ask the public to help solve this problem by consuming
more chicken. This opportunity won't last long," Agriculture
Minister Sulaiman Daud told reporters on Thursday.
The flap arose after poultry breeders claimed that the slump
in chicken prices threatened their businesses.
About 1.08 million chickens are supplied to the Malaysian
market daily, while demand amounts to only 900,000.
Chia said he had to consider "the emotions of (poultry)
producers who had mortgaged houses, land and even signed personal
guarantees with banks and are unable to repay the loans now
because of low chicken prices".
Chia said the farmer now received between 1.20 ringgit and
1.40 ringgit (US$0.47 and $0.55) for one kg of chicken. His costs
totaled 2.80 ringgit ($1.10) a kg.
Sulaiman blamed the glut on farmers' misreading of demand
during two major festivals in Malaysia in February.
The farmers had earlier accused the government of flooding the
market with poultry imports during the Moslem Idul Fitri and
Chinese New Year festivals which coincided last month for the
first time in three decades.
Farmers said high world corn prices had raised poultry
production costs by between 20 and 30 percent since the start of
this year and some operators may be forced to close.
There are about 90 breeder farms producing day-old chicks in
Malaysia, about 1,000 commercial layer farms producing eggs and
another 1,000 broiler farms which produce meat.