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The Rediff Business Special/ Mukhtar Ahmad

Chicken-and-onion price correlation cocks a snook at Valley

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

In Jammu and Kashmir, nobody eats chicken unless cooked with onions. So when the onion prices shot up and became unaffordable for the common man, the price of undressed chicken fell from Rs 60 per kg to Rs 35-40 per kg.

A poultry department official says the locals had virtually stopped eating chicken. Same was the case in hotels and restaurants. Although onions are grown in the valley and in Jammu, they are imported in bulk from Delhi and other states.

Every summer, the price of chicken falls as people consume less. This is for the first time that prices of broiler, both dressed and undressed, fell sharply in Jammu even though the production remained the same as last year's.

"It was the low demand that brought down the price of chicken in Srinagar. Onions played a major role in bringing down chicken prices," says the official. However, several citizens say that increased production of chicken has dramatically brought down the prices.

There were also rumours that prices crashed because infected, dangerous chicken fed on dead rats were being sought to be sold. But poultry officials dismissed the rumours. "They are free from any disease. People now prefer chicken to mutton for health reasons."

The valley this year has seen abundant supply of locally raised chicken as well as imports from Punjab of late what with the Id festival on January 18, 1999 fast approaching. "Before the onion price rise, a kg of undressed chicken was sold at Rs 55-57 while dressed chicken was sold at Rs 90 a kg. However, after steep onion price rise, the prices fell to Rs 45 and Rs 60 respectively.

However the official says that prices will again shoot up in coming days as the prices of onions have started to come down.

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Jammu and Kashmir