LAHORE: Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) has urged the government to announce a bailout package to rescue the poultry industry as 35-40 percent poultry farms are now closed while rest are facing heavy losses due to prolonged closure of marriage halls and hotel industry because of Corona pandemic.
Addressing a press conference PPA Northern Zone Vice Chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Fargham here on Saturday said the poultry sector has been facing losses for the past 6 months due to a high cost of production coupled with falling purchasing power of consumers. He stressed that the cost of production has increased manifold as the borrowing cost soared and capital financing became more expensive.
He suggested that the government should introduce a policy to uplift the businesses hit hard by Covid-19 besides launching financial programs for the revival of closed industrial units. In that regard, first priority should be given to the food sector, which was vital to ensure food security, he said. He said that banks should provide loans according to the SBP directives and without the condition of showing past records.
Chaudhry Fargham also demanded that the poultry sector should be provided loan on lowest markup, sanctioning of new loans for the farms so that they could continue poultry production activity and exempting Import Duty and all other taxes on poultry vaccines, medicines, raw material and machinery so that cost of production could be reduced.
He said farmers have lost heavily during few months while majority of them have lost their entire working capital and if any relief package is not announced the whole poultry sector will collapse, he warned.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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