Fani aftermath: Poultry farmers in soup as business takes a toll

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Bhubaneswar: Several poultry farmers of Puri affected badly in last month’s cyclonic storm Fani are still waiting for aid.
Most of the poultry farms in the district had lost a major portion of their business due to strong winds of Fani which also caused huge destruction to their properties.
A visit to some damaged poultry farms revealed that roofs of many units had blown off and equipment and most of the support systems were in ruins. Many of the cyclone victims had lost their monthly income. “My only business was poultry. We used to rear hens and sell them off at 40-day interval and were able to earn around Rs 40,000 in each phase. We lost all our avenues due to the cyclone,” said Debendra Kumar Behera, owner of a poultry farm at Podunga.
Most of the poultry farms in the district had witnessed massive devastations and a majority of them lost their only source of livelihood in the trail of destruction, said Behera.
Manoj Nayak who had a poultry farm on the Puri-Bhubaneswar Highway said, “The rooftop, hen feeders, wiring and other important parts of the farm had been destroyed beyond repair and even one month after the cyclone we are yet to get any government aid.”
Many poultry operators said local officials and veterinary department officials have surveyed their losses but no compensation or assistance have reached them.
Meanwhile, poultry farm owners said they had lost their infrastructure and also witnessed the death of thousands of hens in their units. The aggrieved owners demand compensation package for their losses and assistance from the government to rebuild their damaged infrastructure. Many of these owners are now taking bank loans to rebuild their lost livelihood.