Poultry farmers seek abolition of entry tax on broilers in J&K

Neeraj Bagga/Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Chandigarh, August 22

Punjab poultry farmers have sought the abolition of entry tax on broilers in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A from the state. The farmers claimed that Jammu & Kashmir is the only state in the country which charges an entry tax of Rs 8 per kg on broilers entering the state.

GS Bedi, a poultry farmer from Amritsar, said: “J&K charges Rs 8 per kg on broiler entering the state. This is adversely affecting the trade, especially of the poultry farms located in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Pathankot.”

In a communiqué to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, since J&K does not have any special provisions now, this tax should be abolished to provide equal business opportunities to all. He said, “Himachal Pradesh is another big buyer of broilers from Punjab but it does not levy any kind of entry tax.”

According to traders, an entry tax of 40 paise per kg was first introduced in 2006 to protect and nurture the poultry sector in Jammu and Kashmir. This nominal levy has now increased to Rs 8 per kg over the years.

“A truck carrying 3,000 birds (normal capacity) has to shell out Rs 36,000 as entry tax, considering each bird weighs 1.5 kg. It is not a viable proposition and this, coupled with transportation cost, increases the input cost,” Bedi said.

According to the traders, Jammu & Kashmir faces shortage of 50% broilers as compared to the demand but due to high entry tax, poultry farmers fail to cash in on this demand as the broilers become costlier when they reach the end-consumers. Punjab has approximately 2,500 broiler farms which produce nearly 1.50 crore broilers per month (with 10-20% fluctuation depending upon season). The Kashmir Valley is the biggest buyer of broilers being reared in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur and traders see a huge business potential. 

While the monthly production of broilers in Jammu & Kashmir is around 25-30 lakh birds, the demand is for 60 lakh broilers per month. On an average, Punjab sells 2-3 lakh birds to the state per month. 

On the one hand, farmers struggle for potential markets, on the other hand, high feed cost acts as a deterrent. Col JS Sahi (retd), a poultry farmer from Gurdaspur, said “Poultry farming is already under immense pressure due to high production cost. During the past eight months, the price of feed has increased from Rs 24 per kg to Rs 32 per kg due to hike in prices of maize and soya.”