Chitwan, August 11
Poultry businesses have increased the support price of eggs following a rise in demand. The Nepal Layers Poultry Farmers Association has revised the support price, effective from today.
According to the association, the support price has been set at Rs 560 per crate of 30 XL eggs, Rs 545 for large eggs, Rs 500 for medium eggs, and Rs 3,000 per box of small eggs, with each box containing seven crates. Association Chairperson Binod Pokharel said market demand has increased significantly following a decline in egg production after the bird flu outbreak subsided and a large number of chickens died. He said the support price was determined based on the rates provided by poultry farms.
Despite the price increase, farmers are still unable to recover their production costs, Pokharel said. The cost of producing an egg is Rs 19.12, which puts the cost of a crate of 30 eggs at Rs 573.60. Farmers have suffered heavy losses due to bird flu. As they have been unable to recover their production costs, many farmers have started leaving the poultry business in recent years.
Business operators say declining production, poultry diseases and other factors have increasingly forced farmers to rely on bank loans to sustain their businesses. Pokharel said some farmers recently lost chickens to bird flu, while those who managed to keep their poultry suffered significant losses because they were unable to receive a fair price for their eggs.
