NST Leader: The chicken-and-egg crisis nobody's solving
RISING chicken and egg prices, driven by closures of problematic poultry farms, are an upshot of the old chicken-and-egg paradox.
The ongoing chicken and egg price surge is a manifestation of the classic chicken-and-egg paradox. While production thrives, it's plagued by fly infestations, labor shortages, surging feed costs, and regulatory pressure. Despite meeting domestic demand, supply tightens. Seven farms in Negri Sembilan closed, impacting 3.7 million live chickens.
The Federation of Livestock Farmers Associations of Malaysia reported that around 40-50% of small and medium-sized farms nationwide have either closed or halted production due to structural and financial crises.
Higher feed costs and labor shortages exacerbate the issue, stifling operations. The absence of a market cap on poultry prices leads to supply and price volatility. If supply dwindles, reliance on pricey imports increases. The government's call for fewer foreign workers clashes with farmers' reliance on them for harvesting. Mechanization is the solution, but farmers balk at the high capital investments, complex farm setups, and lengthy maturity periods.
The government needs to address the labor supply issue first, which is unrealistic due to quota constraints that can't manage manure management and cleaning. Aging farm operators and workers, with 460,000 over 60 and 327,000 aged 46-59, need to be tackled. Consolidating land and farms, allowing farmers to own and manage separate parcels through rental, management fee, and profit-sharing models can create economies of scale.
Expanding domestic production of feed and fertilizers and differentiating between deliberate violations and real struggles in meeting standards can cut imports. Farmers estimate raising birds in a closed-house system can cost up to RM60 million, excluding land costs. Instead of consumer subsidies, farmers need subsidies. The paradox remains in policy, with the chicken-and-egg contradiction likely persisting in regulation.
Enforcement must be practical to avoid driving legitimate farmers out of business and threatening food security.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
