Industry body urges ban on maize export

A release from NECC Chairperson Anuradha Desai said the poultry industry was in the grip of severe crisis because of the price of maize, an important poultry feed.

The NECC appealed to the Prime Minister, Union Agriculture Minister and Union Finance Minister to ensure the availability of adequate quantity of maize at an affordable cost.

The committee asked the Prime Minister to remove maize from the list of commodities allowed for forward trading and ban export of maize.

The committee claims that prices have increased by 90 to 100 percent, alleging that multinational companies, through forward trading, had managed to corner huge quantities of maize and were withholding the grain from the market

The committee also asked the government to extend the interest subvention and moratorium on repayment of bank loans availed by the poultry farmers (granted as part of the relief package in the wake of bird flu) by one more year.