KOLKATA: Several districts in south and central Bengal have reported widespread poultry deaths over the past few days that have resulted in a sharp drop in the supply of chicken to Kolkata markets and triggered a price rise.Dressed chicken, which was being sold at Rs 150-Rs 180 a kg 20 days ago, sold at Rs 210-Rs 250 a kg on Friday. Poultry owners and traders have blamed the sudden and rapid fluctuation in temperature for the deaths and the situation, they added, is not likely to improve unless there is a change in weather conditions.“I have never seen a situation like this before,” Pratap Ghosh, secretary, West Bengal Poultry Traders Association told TOI. “The mortality in most of the poultry farms across Hooghly and Midnapore is almost 100% and traders face a crisis. It is certainly a virus attack but we cannot ascertain whether it is bird flu that has hit the farms,” Ghosh added.However, West Bengal Poultry Federation (WBPF) general secretary Madan Mohan Maity put the blame squarely on the vagaries of nature. “Flowers like Land Lotus have started blooming now, something I have never seen. The Land Lotus blooms in autumn. We don’t know whether it is global warming but our trade has been hit badly by the weather.”Hooghly and Midnapore districts are the two biggest broiler chicken suppliers to Kolkata — by far the biggest chicken-consuming district in the state. “My entire poultry production has been wiped out in 15 days and no medicine or vaccine could save a single chick,” said Babusona Roy of Dighirpar in Hooghly. Malay Nandi of Goghat in Hooghly has been luckier. He could save just about 20% of his stock, which he sold under distress.West Bengal Poultry Federation is peeved at the gap between the retail price they have announced and the price at which dressed chicken is being sold in Kolkata markets. “A large number of retailers charge customers unfairly when chickens die in poultry farms and the supply is hit. On Friday, WBPF has fixed the price of dressed chicken at Rs 190. So, retailers should not sell chicken beyond Rs 200 a kg. But a lot of traders are selling chicken at a higher margin,” said Maity.Retailer Bibhuti Shaw sold chicken at Rs 250 per kg at Lake Market on Friday. “The supply of chicken is now less than 25 per cent of what used to be three weeks ago. Moreover, chickens are dying in our cages as well. The loss is thus piling up. We cannot sell chicken at a lower price,” he said.Pintu Bhattacharya, a senior manager of one of the two major chick supplying agencies said, “The crisis is largely because of poultry operators not following the protocols for raising the chicks. This is the time when even a slight negligence can lead to high mortality in the farms.”“The government sells chicken at Rs 140 per kg at Haringhata. This is the government fixed retail price. But private hatcheries keep jacking up price on any pretext. We have received no complaint of chicken mortality across Bengal,” said Swapan Debnath, minister of the state, animal resources development.

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