Poultry food crisis: Govt. blamed

By Elmo Leonard

There is an acute shortage of poultry feed, threatening the existence of the poultry industry. The shortage is due to the non-availability of corn, which constitutes 50 percent of poultry food used in the country. Government was now planning to import poultry.
Chairman, All Island Poultry Association (AIPA) Dr. D.D. Wanasinghe charged that government did not heed the continuous plea of poultry breeders to rectify the foreseen shortfall in corn. Dr. Wanasinghe claims, his association is the voice of 85,000 poultry farmer families in the island.
The Sri Lanka poultry industry needs 200,000 tonnes of corn (maize) annually. The local production for 2009 was 120,000 tonnes. AIPA had made repeated requests to the Ministry of Livestock Development to allow imports of corn and avoid the shortage of poultry feed. But the government seemed to back the unscrupulous middlemen who buy at the farm gate in corn growing areas as Mihintale, Anuradhapura and Kekirawa for Rs28 and below per kilo, hoard the stock and sell at Rs57 per kilo and more, AIDA alleges.
The next corn harvest is mid-March and the last was in October/November.
First, government banned imports of corn. Then, with repeated appeals made, government allowed imports of 20,000 tonnes of corn when 40,000 tonnes was needed. But due to bottlenecks imposed on corn imports, there does not seem to be a decrease in shortage. The bottlenecks include, obtaining permits and opening L/Cs, which are then rejected. Then, the importer has to start over again, needing a further six weeks for new paper work, it is alleged. Then, an import duty of 67 percent of CIF was imposed. When corn if at all is imported that way, it would cost Rs.57 to Rs.59 per kilo; the same price locally grown corn is sold in the market as a result of the “unscrupulous cartel of middlemen”, it is alleged.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka remains the only country in South Asia to stay Bird Flu-free since the epidemic begun 2004 wiped out the poultry industries of many nations, largely in Asia. The island’s success also belongs to government continuously banning all poultry products since the detection of the epidemic. In the event of an outbreak of bird flu, government must answer to WHO, FAO and World Bank who funded and assisted the prevention of bird flu in the island, Dr. Wanasinghe said.
The ministry concerned responded with, “Dr Wanasinghe is always finding fault with us on the matter of corn.”