New Delhi: Poultry industry hit hard while rumours spread in different parts of the country as coronavirus can be transmitted through consumption of chicken and price fell as a result.
About two crore people employed in the poultry industry across the country have been impacted. Due to the fall in demand, wholesale price of chicken had dropped by as much as 70 per cent.
Industry men get just Rs 20 per bird in the market whereas the cost of production is Rs 80.
Union Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Giriraj Singh has admitted the effect on poultry industry, adding that poultry industry was losing Rs 1,500-2,000 crore daily.
Speaking on the rumours, Giriraj Singh claimed that according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), coronavirus is transmitted through human contact, and there has been no evidence of the virus communicating from animals to humans or humans to animals.
Vijay Sardana said the impact of the unfounded rumour has mainly been on farmers growing corn and soybean, and the soy industry. He said that the price of maize had come down by Rs 7,000 per tonne.
