Misinformation surrounding coronavirus hits poultry sales

Apart from the various human lives that have become victims of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the poultry business in India has been affected by it too. Misinformation being spread through Whatsapp messages saying that chicken and eggs might cause the coronavirus infection has led to a major decline in their sales, thus disappointing the people associated with the poultry industry.

Namakkal (Tamil Nadu): The deadly coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed many lives and has sent the entire world into a frenzy, has also adversely affected the poultry business in numerous states of India.

The panic surrounding the outbreak has caused an unprecedented drop in sales of chicken, due to rumours spreading through WhatsApp messages. Over the past few days, rumours have been spreading rapidly, suggesting that the virus has been spreading due to chicken. The messages urge people to refrain from eating chicken and eggs.

As a result, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu have seen a steep drop in the sale of broiler chickens.

And now, people associated with the poultry industry are demanding that action be taken against those who are spreading misinformation on social media in Tamil Nadu.

Dr Selvakumar, Vice President of Tamil Nadu Chicken Breeders' Federation, said that while it is not yet scientifically confirmed that the coronavirus is spread by poultry, the misinformation on social media has put the future of the poultry industry in question.

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"The lives of lakhs of people involved in this business like poultry farmers, veterinarians, retailers and farmers cultivating poultry feeds will all be severely affected because of this. As a result, the prices of broiler chicken, country chicken and eggs have come down unprecedentedly in the past few weeks," he said, adding that the industry was unable to bear the loss and hence the government must step in.

Up until last month, a kilo of chicken meat was sold for Rs 120 to Rs 200 per kilogram. However, as a result of the misinformation, the price has now come down to Rs 60 to 80 due to the lowered demand. In the same way, the prices of eggs have also drastically fallen, resulting in the loss of crores of rupees per day.

Meanwhile, Namakkal District Collector K Megraj appealed to the public to not believe in rumours and said that there has been no impact of the outbreak - neither in Namakkal district nor in Tamil Nadu as a whole.

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