Rad­hi­ca De Sil­va

With lo­cal chick­en pro­duc­tion con­strained and de­mand for eggs con­tin­u­ing to rise, poul­try farm­ers are urg­ing Gov­ern­ment to boost the sup­ply of fer­tilised eggs and lay­ing birds to pre­vent fur­ther short­ages of eggs, chicks, and poul­try.

Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter Ravi Rati­ram has an­nounced plans to es­tab­lish a gov­ern­ment hatch­ery to en­sure a re­li­able sup­ply of qual­i­ty chicks for lo­cal pro­duc­ers, with im­ports cur­rent­ly sourced from the Nether­lands and the Unit­ed States. How­ev­er, some farm­ers re­main con­cerned about the po­ten­tial costs.