Chicken imports from Pakistan: Half of Nangarhar farms closed

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Owners of poultry farms in eastern Nangarhar province say the increase in chicken feed price and the import of chicken and its meat from Pakistan have badly affected their business.

Sayed Rahim Babarzai, spokesman for the Nangarhar Poultry Farms Union, told Pajhwok Afghan News that 50 percent of the farms had been closed in the province due to the increased price of chicken feed and import of poultry from Pakistan.

He said there were about 2,000 poultry farms in the province, but half of them were closed and if the situation continued like this, more such farms would be closed.

He criticized chicken feed producing factories in Nangarhar for not only increasing the prices, but also lowering its quality.

Naqibullah Arab, a poultry farm owner in Karez Kabi area of Behsud district, said instead of making profit, his business incurred losses day by day.

He added if the quality and prices of chicken feed were not controlled and taxes on chickens imported from Pakistan were not increased, then their businesses would collapse.

Saiful Rahman, a chicken feed factory owner, told Pajhwok that millions of afghanis had been invested in every factory and they were trying to provide good quality and cheap poultry feed to the market.

He said the rates of the chicken feed were determined according to the costs of production.

Zamir Behsudi, deputy head of agriculture department, said he had submitted a plan to the Ministry of Agriculture, which would solve the problem.

sa/ma