Egg prices have gone through the roof. The poultry product, which sold for Rs100 per crate (30 pieces) hardly a month ago, is selling at Rs210-Rs220. Egg is a staple in many Indian homes. Besides their nutritional value, eggs are preferred as a cheap replacement for non-vegetarian dishes. Both the poor and the rich who abhor consuming mutton and chicken, often settle for eggs as they are not only cheap and nutritious, but delicious too. However, eggs have become a luxury item these days. Such spiralling of egg prices was never seen before.
A 100 per cent rise in egg prices over a month has made the staple disappear from menus. It is not economical at Rs7 or Rs7.50 apiece and people are buying chicken instead. Every year, egg prices witness a rise during the winters, owing to an increase in demand. However, this year the prices have moved up significantly. Making matters worse for egg eaters, the rates of onions and tomatoes have also been ruling high. Tomato sells at Rs50-Rs60 per kilogram at local markets while onions sell Rs50 per kg. The upsurge in the prices of eggs, onions and tomatoes has forced small hotels to knock omelettes and other egg-based dishes off their menu. Eggs were being supplied to students as part of mid-day meals (MDM) as they are protein-rich food. However, authorities have stopped serving eggs to students in MDM as it is beyond sanctioned per head expenses.
While egg prices usually rise during winter months, broiler rates fall owing to a rise in supply, for, the birds take less time to reach slaughter weight than the time taken by a bird to attain egg-laying capacity. A day-old chick weighing about 40 grams takes 40-42 days to attain a live bird weight of 2-2.5 kilograms when it is ready for slaughter. This even comes lower to 37-38 days during winters. On the contrary, egg laying birds (layers) take at least 18 weeks to start producing eggs. Another reason for the spurt in egg prices now is the raise in demand following a sharp rise in vegetable prices. Prices of green vegetables across the board are ruling high since the Oriya month of Kartik when many abjure non-vegetarian dishes. When vegetables turn costly, people switch to eggs, pushing their price up.
Orissa is not self-reliant in many kitchen staples such as onion, potato and poultry items. It depends on neighbouring states such as Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal for these. It is not first time that people here have suffered from supply disruptions. Not long ago, West Bengal arbitrarily stopped supplying potatoes to Orissa, leading to a hue and cry in the state. Onions have regularly left consumers here teary eyed. Eggs have come up as the latest irritant. The state requires 75 lakh eggs per day, while its daily production does not exceed 40 lakh eggs. Andhra Pradesh and Raipur meet the shortfall. The state had brought in a poultry policy in 2015 which envisaged production of 1 crore eggs per day by 2022.
Besides making the state self-reliant in poultry and eggs, the policy would have created jobs for lakhs of unemployed youths in rural areas. However, the policy has been put into cold storage. Similarly, the state government stopped broiler farming in August 2015. It must now shed its indifference and take efforts to make the state self-sufficient in poultry and poultry products. Banks are looking for ways to expand their priority sector lending and the government should act here as a facilitator. This would not only make the state self-reliant in poultry, but also could generate gainful employment for thousands of youths in rural areas.
