One of the main dishes of the holiday’s table my be missing this year

By: STA Date: 2022. 07. 26. 10:26

Duck is part of the Christmas menu for many people, but the avian influenza has decimated the domestic flock to such an extent that this poultry may become scarce.

Avian influenza had a bad impact on the production of poultry meat

Last November avian influenza returned. The situation was further aggravated by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, which also skyrocketed the price of poultry feed ingredients, so that in addition to the epidemic, the increase in costs also made it difficult to produce poultry meat.

According to information from the Poultry Product Council (BTT), this year’s avian influenza season significantly reduced the amount of poultry meat by 12 percent. However, individual breeds are not equally affected. While only 3.3 percent of chickens were affected in terms of live weight, geese and ducks suffered much more serious damage – said Attila Csorbai, director of the Poultry Product Council, when asked by VG.

Three quarters of last year’s production disappeared in a few months

By May of this year, the production of fattened geese fell by 38 percent, but the worst damage was done to duck farmers. The production of fattened ducks is currently one quarter of last year’s amount! The reason for this is that the Bács-Kiskun county, which is considered the center of production, is the outbreak of the epidemic, so since last November it has been under constant pressure in terms of the number of bird flu cases.

The turkey population began to grow. True, only 2 percent.

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