In a scramble for eggs

Sri Lanka’s daily egg production has drastically decreased from eight million to 3.5 million, and prices have increased to Rs. 55 at present from Rs. 20 in March this year due to shortage of feed and other inputs, according to All-Island Poultry Farmers’ Association Chairman Ajith Gunasekara. Due to feed costs increasing to an extremely high level, and the industry is in danger of failing, it is impossible to even sell eggs for Rs. 55.

According to industry sources, Sri Lanka’s animal husbandry and cattle sector is currently experiencing a man-made catastrophe as a result of the relevant State institutions’ neglect over the last two years, which was mostly brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. It has been discovered that 200 million set aside from the interim Budget for the development of livestock and animal husbandry has not been used for any such activity and the money has now been restored to the Treasury.

The Ministry of Livestock has been disbanded, and the Ministry of Agriculture currently oversees the livestock industry. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, claimed that he questioned the responsible officials for animal husbandry development about this issue, and they responded that they had not received any project proposals from provincial councils. 

As a result of Government missteps and the focus shifting to industrial farms that can generate domestic money, the entire industry has been ignored and pushed into an abyss. The Minister added that when he questioned the officials about why they had not taken any action, they remained silent. 

At a time when the prices of eggs and chicken meat were skyrocketing with the drop in production, the failure to use this enormous sum of money even to improve the industry was unacceptable as many Sri Lankans forego meals and are under-nourished at prevailing prices.

The livestock industry, which includes the production of chicken and eggs, is currently dealing with problems like low pay and allowances for employees of pertinent State agencies, a shortage of veterinarians, fuel, medications, and vitamins, as well as the absence of a national strategy to support the sector. The consumption of all meat, milk and eggs has increased dramatically, and their costs have skyrocketed, prompting the sector to expand. 

However, this expansion has not occurred since livestock is not considered an essential good. According to industry officials, there is a price cap on eggs in Sri Lanka, and some farmers have slaughtered hens for meat. In contrast, the cost of chicken meat is currently declining after rising, which is encouraging producers of broiler chickens to increase their output.

Last year 80,000 parent animals were imported to Sri Lanka to produce chickens, but in 2022, that number dropped to 7000, according to Ministry statistics. This has been attributed to a lack of foreign currency and the banning of parent animal exports by nations like India. Between 1000 and 3000 million eggs were produced annually, but that number fell to 2,934 million in 2021 and 1,963 million this year. Yet, by the end of this year the nation’s per capita egg consumption is anticipated to rise to 125 from 35, as it was 10 years ago. 

According to Government figures, Sri Lankans devour 200 million eggs on average over the Christmas and New Year holidays. This number is also affected by the festive seasons of the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year in April.