The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) of Scotland (poultry working group) has called for the Scottish government to introduce a housing order for poultry immediately amidst the UK’s biggest ever avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak.
The group met yesterday (Thursday, November 10) and repeated calls for Scotland to impose a housing order on birds, and insisted they be kept inside, to back-up the strict biosecurity measures already in place on farms.
The group also criticised the response of some retailers to the crisis, citing the appearance of Italian eggs in Sainsbury’s as proof that supermarkets are failing to recognise the issues that UK poultry keepers are facing.
Increases in input costs is driving poultry farmers to reduce bird numbers on-farm, the group said.
Speaking after the meeting, poultry working group chair, Robert Thompson, said: “With the growing threat posed by avian influenza (AI), Scotland’s poultry keepers are continuing to call on Scottish government to impose a housing order to help minimise the risks.
“For most producers, there are no insurance options against AI while some have only limited and very costly insurance available.
“The risks of getting the disease in a flock remain too high and many units, especially free-range, will be left lying empty rather than taking a chance on restocking only to risk losing them all and incurring the costs associated with that.”
Thompson said that most retailers have ignored requests from all sectors of the industry for a sustainable price to be offered in response to exceptionally high input costs, and that has resulted in 5.5 million fewer chicks being placed on UK farms in the last 12 months.
“The results are now obvious, and with no cushion within the industry, the additional impact from AI has been catastrophic,” he said.
“Where the sector may have been able to help manage the modest reduction in production caused by AI, the lack of retailer support means that eggs are becoming extremely difficult, and costly, to source.
“The retailers need to respond now and treat their UK suppliers with much more respect. This situation has been of their own making.
“Simply importing more eggs and chicken from abroad will also be a challenge for supermarkets as the disease is raging across the EU, leading to millions of birds being culled. Instead, they should be backing home production and paying a price that recognises the exceptional high costs that producers face,” he concluded.
