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NEW DELHI:
The bird flu scare in India
might be depressing chicken
sales in the domestic market but
it is good news for those
rearing quail, which is becoming
a favourite among the country's
urban population, a report said
yesterday.
Demand for quail – normally a
gourmet's delight and limited to
upper class clientele in India's
major cities – has shot up since
the fear of bird flu gripped the
country, the Hindustan Times
daily reported.
The high demand has pushed up
the price of quail from 140
rupees (RM11.40) to 180 rupees
(RM15.20) (four dollars) a kg,
the report said.
The Indian government has
insisted the country is free of
the avian flu which has caused
the deaths of 22 people and
forced the slaughter of millions
of chickens elsewhere in Asia.
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GOOD TO EAT: Bollywood
stars (from left) Sanjay
Dutt, Sunil Shetty and
Fardeen Khan urging
Indians to eat chicken
eggs during a news
conference in Bombay on
Friday.--Reuterspic. |
But many in India are not
convinced and have dropped
chicken from the menu, at a cost
to the domestic poultry industry
of at least US$110mil
(RM418mil), according to
industry figures.
Exports to Japan, South Asian
countries and the Middle East,
however, have risen
substantially.
According to the Poultry
Federation of India (PFI), a
traders' association, India
produces 1.4 billion chickens a
year or about 27 million a week,
of which 95% are traded live.
The US$7bil (RM26.6bil) industry
provides employment to about
four million people, the
majority of whom are small-scale
farmers, the PFI said.
Quail is listed as an endangered
bird in India but the federal
government has given special
permission for rearing imported
birds, the report said.
Quail meat is costlier than
chicken and has lower fat and
cholesterol content. Chicken
costs between 80 rupees and 100
rupees (RM0.80 and RM1) per
kilo. – AFP |