All-Island Poultry Farmers’ Association chairman Ajith Gunasekara yesterday urged retailers to adhere to maintain the retail price of eggs at Rs. 55 each and to work together to resist the government’s plan to import eggs.

Gunasekera said that the government should help the local poultry farmers boost their production.

“We tell the Trade Minister Nalin Fernando that importing eggs is not the answer. We must help the small and medium scale farmers who have stopped operating. We should boost production here. If eggs are imported from India the entire sector will collapse and many people will lose their jobs,” Gunasekara said, urging retailers to keep selling eggs at Rs 55 each and assuring that they would supply the wholesale traders the necessary stocks.

Gunasekara said the production of eggs and chicken had dropped drastically because of high costs. He said that the daily production of eggs, which was around 800,000 per day, had dropped to about 400,000.

He added that by December the industry had shrunk by 40 percent due to a severe shortage of animal feed.On Saturday (07) the Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corporation announced that international tenders to import eggs would be called from 09 January.