Market watchers say the problem lies in Indian diet patterns, which have not kept pace with the phenomenal growth in the output of table eggs and meat.

The per capita egg consumption at home is only 36, it is 40 in Pakistan, 156 in Australia and 245 in the USA.

The world average is per capita consumption of 150 eggs. Per capita poultry consumption at home is 700 grams compared to the world average of 5 kg.

While diet patterns have remained conservative, the productivity of poultry farms in terms of both broiler breeding and egg output have pranced up every year.

The output of eggs has increased at a mind-boggling rate, to more than 32,000 million from 800 million two decades ago. The broiler population is growing at a panting pace too. The first blip in the short-circuited market occurred in Coimbatore two months ago, when hatcheries began to destroy broiler chick eggs in lakh. Market watchers now confirm that the mass destruction of unborn chicks in September had not set a trend.

``Some hatcheries in Andhra Pradesh reportedly destroyed eggs too, but we have received no such information from Maharashtra, Punjab or any of the other states,'' said an industry watcher at Krishi Bhavan. The fast-growing poultry industry is mostly concentrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka. The Coimbatore hatcheries had reportedly destroyed 19 lakh unborn chicks in September, to `stabilise the market.' Crashing prices of the table bird had forced farmers to rear less fowl and hatcheries suddenly found no takers for the chicks.

The high-input technology (or scientific nourishment that improves the egg yield of the Indian fowl) has increased production, but not prices, they say. Unable to get a price for the table bird, poultry farmers now prefer to rear less fowls rather than flood the market with cheap chicken meat.

Consequently, the hatcheries, which once had as much as 200 per cent margin on sales, suddenly have a glut of new-born chicks. Retail prices of both eggs and poultry have ironically, remained more or less stable all through this upheaval, implying a windfall for middlemen. Some sources in the market describe the Coimbatore incidents as a `stunt' though. Said one: "If farmers were not buying chicks, the hatcheries could have sold table eggs, instead of allowing the eggs to grow embryos before destroying them."

Others point out that the outlet for eggs was limited. The country does export roughly Rs 5.5 crore worth of table eggs, but the absence of infrastructure like cold storage chains, limit eggs sales overseas. The home market is not growing, so hatcheries and poultry farmers are limited to the choice of selling cheap or selling less. Estimates show, 10 lakh parent hens produce nearly 30 lakh chicks per week, accounting for the 100 per cent growth in the population of table birds in the last four years. Broiler consumption in the country went up by barely 15 per cent in the meantime, prompting the Indian fowl to cluck in despair.