50,000 Chickens Dead, Tamil Nadu Farmers Face Diwali Season Disaster

Mohan, a poultry farmer in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district, is a shattered man. He has lost 7,000 birds over the past week, watching his investment and livelihood crumble as an unidentified disease sweeps through poultry farms in the district.

Mohan is among several poultry farmers caught in a crisis that has reportedly claimed nearly 50,000 chickens across several villages in Cuddalore over the past six days. The outbreak has triggered panic, with large-scale culling of birds and burial of dead chickens underway. Farmers are staring at huge economic losses, with the crisis striking just ahead of the peak Diwali season, when they would normally expect business to pick up.

For Mohan, the financial burden is mounting by the day. A single chick costs around Rs 47-48, while a 50-kg bag of poultry feed costs between Rs 2,500 and Rs 2,600. Electricity bills alone run into Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.

"We can't do anything anymore. We are unable to survive this. We just sit here helplessly, having invested Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh. Overall, we have lost 40,000 to 50,000 birds," he says, referring to the losses across the affected poultry farms.

Farmers describe a disturbing pattern in the deaths. They say the chickens are found with their legs stretched backwards and their wings fully spread out. With the cause of the outbreak still unknown, there is growing anxiety over the possibility of further deaths and the impact on their remaining stock.

District authorities, however, estimate the number of dead birds at around 26,000, significantly lower than the nearly 50,000 deaths reported by farmers. A senior district administration official told NDTV, "The first laboratory test report has ruled out avian influenza, but the cause of the outbreak remains unidentified."

The Tamil Nadu government has now sent additional samples to a laboratory in Bhopal for further testing. Farmers are waiting for the results, hoping they will establish the cause and help identify measures to contain the outbreak.

Mohan says repeated appeals to government officials and veterinary doctors have not brought them any immediate relief.

"We are struggling right now. We haven't found any solutions. When we speak to government officials and doctors, they tell us not to go anywhere and that the test results will be out soon," he says.

With the Diwali season approaching, poultry farmers fear that the continuing outbreak could wipe out more of their stock and leave them struggling to recover from the losses. For Mohan and others like him, the immediate concern is how to keep their farms and livelihoods afloat.