A rumour that the Covid 19 coronavirus can be spread by chickens has slashed Indian poultry sales by almost 50 percent, top supplier Godrej Agrovet Ltd said on Thursday.
“A lot of misleading posts on social media, especially on WhatsApp, have created a false impression that humans can contract the coronavirus through chickens,” managing director B S Yadav stated.
Sales have fallen from 75 million about four weeks ago to around 40 million birds a week, he said. Other Indian poultry firms including Venky’s too have cited rumours spread by social media for the fall in poultry-related sales.
A knock-on fall in prices has hurt farmers, Yadav said. They are are now getting just Rs 30-35 per bird, down from Rs 80-85.
Some farmers have already started to cut production as they can’t afford animal feed and other costs of keeping a large inventory of birds, Yadav said.
“Even if people gradually realise that chicken consumption has nothing to do with the coronavirus, sales will take a bit of time to pick up as one can’t raise chicken production overnight,” Yadav said.
