Poultry farm owners claim that while the outbreak has hit the home bred country chicken variety, it is actually the broiler farms, mostly organised, that are facing the brunt of the bird flu panic.

Poultry prices have fallen drastically. In the current scenario, if chicken is being sold away even at Rs 10 per kg from the farms, the state’s broiler farms and hatcheries will still incur a loss of Rs 30 crore each week. Even till last Sunday, farm prices were as high as Rs 50 per kg,” said Srinidhi, on behalf of the West Bengal Poultry Co-ordination Committee.

Available information suggests that around 40 lakh broiler chickens are sold from the state’s estimated 20,000 small and big farms, each week during normal circumstances. But with the panic gripping the entire state, poultry farms even in regions where there are no reports of the bird flu are suffering due to falling prices.

“There are reports that movement of birds is being restricted by some panchayats. At places, chicken sale is being stopped. Orders for supplies to marriage and picnic parties are being cancelled. We are suffering for no fault of ours,” said Bharatji Prasad of the Shree Bishnu Feed Industries.

The farm owners are now looking up to the state government for launching awareness campaigns regarding bird flu and the consumption of chickens

“People are not being made to understand what is safe for eating and what not. It is fear that is working,” said Monoranjan Naskar, managing director of the Sundarban Hatchery Pvt Ltd.

Even those, who deal in processed chicken, have been hit. “Airlines are not purchasing chicken. There is hardly any conscious propaganda regarding the processed chicken,” said Sanjay Mitra, AGM, sales and marketing of Amrit Feeds Limited.

With prices tumbling down, chicken consumption has incidentally increased in some pockets, say poultry owners. People, who usually cannot afford to consume chicken, are having a feast. But traders feel that this is a short-lived phenomenon.