The supply of poultry in Malaysia is expected to ease in a month, a senior government official has said.
Dr Noorlizan Mohammed Noor, director general of the Department of Veterinary Services, said yesterday that there will be enough chicken supplies to meet demand during next month’s Hajj Eid celebrations, Bernama reported.
Hari Raya Haji will be celebrated on July 10 in Malaysia.
Dr Norlizan said the situation was improving as the government intervened to address the shortage of poultry supplies and government agencies were working with poultry farmers.
“They have an obligation to increase poultry production. The situation is improving, ”he told reporters.
Dr Noorlizan said industrial companies had told them that there was a shortage of poultry in Malaysia due to a variety of factors, including climate change, a shortage of poultry farms, and diseases among poultry.
Dr Noorlizan noted that nearly 80 percent of local poultry farmers use open-air poultry farms. This exposes chickens to hot weather and diseases transmitted by flies. Only a few of the farmers use closed poultry farms.
Geoffrey Williams of Malaysia University of Science and Technology talking about the chicken export ban to Free Malaysia Today (FMT) said that although Malaysia`s ban had caused a chicken shortage in Singapore, the problem was one for the republic, not Malaysia.
However, another economist speaking to FMT said Malaysian poultry farmers could have lost the Singapore export market for good.
Carmelo Ferlito of the Center for Market Education said the export ban, in force from June 1, would deprive poultry farmers of their main export market and some producers could close, affecting local chicken supply.
In response to a report about a Singapore deal to import 10 times more chilled chicken from Thailand, Ferlito said: “While Malaysia plays a suicidal game, we can`t expect the rest of the world to sit down and wait for us.
Williams said the chicken crisis had exposed Malaysia’s structural problems in food production, distribution and trade, and lack of security.