GUWAHATI, June 21 - Do you know that the weight of an egg determines its price and importers based here buy the eggs from outside at differential rates depending on the size? The eggs, however, notwithstanding their sizes are sold at the same retail price in the State.
Assam Livestock and Poultry Development Corporation Limited administrative officer Purnananda Konwar told The Assam Tribune that the weight of a standard egg is around 54 grams.
�Those up to 45 grams are called pullet eggs (laid by young hens). These are priced less and people outside normally do not buy them,� Konwar said.
�The traders here buy the two qualities of eggs at different prices outside. But here they normally mix both and sell them to the unsuspecting consumer at the same price,� he added.
To put tabs on the unregulated poultry framing and trade, Assam Livestock and Poultry Development Corporation Limited is in the process of drafting a poultry policy for the State.
Corporation�s chairman Manoj Saikia said the State did not have a policy on poultry so far and so, unregulated trade, unhygienic slaughter, storage and disorganised farming were going on.
�The government has already notified a committee which has been tasked to draft the policy. The committee comprises representatives of all stakeholders, including trader associations, farmer associations, health department, municipal corporation, administration, Assam Agriculture University, veterinary department, etc. We are collecting the materials and the draft will be prepared at the earliest possible date,� Saikia said.
Besides, a price control mechanism, the new policy would seek to regulate the farming, hatchery, feeds and all other poultry-related activities. It will also seek to incentivise the sector, and bring in subsidies in electricity and import of inputs so that local products can compete in the market.
The new policy is also likely to have a provision to quarantine unhygienic poultry products at the entry gates like Srirampur itself.
Officials said around 33 lakh units of egg enter the Srirampur gate daily. They are imported from West Bengal and southern states. The State also imports around 20,000 kilograms of live chicken every day from neighbouring states and it is reported that a lot of these birds die during transportation.
In Guwahati alone, there are some 1,500 licensed fish and meat shops, but many of these do not follow the rules related to slaughter and storage. Over 120 such shops were evicted by the Kamrup (Metro) district administration earlier this month.
