RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has cautioned the Government that due to non-availability of soybean meal, there is fear of scarcity of chicken, meat and food security across the country.
RCCI President Saqib Rafiq said in a statement that 130,000 tonnes of soybeans worth 22 billion rupees are lying in the open sky at the port.
Due to the lack of timely clearance, there is a fear that 30,000 poultry farms will be closed, more than 300 feed mills will be directly affected and the investment of about 1200 billion will be stopped in this sector.
He said that the poultry industry accounts for 50% of the meat demand in the country, and more than 1.5 million people are employed in the poultry industry.
Non availability of soybean meal across the country has started to have an impact, increasing the price of chicken, and making it unaffordable for the common man, he said.
He informed that Soybean meal is the main ingredient of any feed without which the production of feed is not possible due to which the entire feed industry will shut down. Your poultry farmer, fish farmer and dairy farmer will be ruined due to unavailability of feed, he cautioned.
Saqib Rafiq further added that in the next two weeks, not only chickens, eggs will not be available in the country, but there will also be a shortage of milk and meat in the entire country. This should be considered as an SOS call, he said.
He demanded that the authorities should realize the seriousness of the issue and immediately release the soybean seed at the port so that there is no food security in the country.
