Following a fall in the price of chickens following the COVID-19 outbreak, poultry farmers in Belagavi and Kolar districts buried thousands of chickens on their farms on Tuesday.

While the owner of a farm in Lolsur village in Gokak Taluk of Belagavi district buried around 6,500 birds alive, around 9,500 chickens were buried alive at Magondi in Bangarapet Taluk in Kolar district.

Nazeer Makandar, the poultry farmer in Lolsur, said he buried the chickens alive as he could not afford the costs of the feed required to keep the birds alive and did not expect an improvement in the situation soon.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there have been rumours that consuming chicken would lead to the spread of the disease. With the rumours going viral on social media, people have been preferring to stay away from chicken, which in turn has led to a fall in prices.

Makandar sought the help of a JCB to dig a huge pit in the village and buried around 6,500 birds alive on Monday. He said the price of a kilo of chicken had come down to Rs 8, while the feed needed to increase the weight of the chicken costs Rs 50 for a kilo.

In Bangarapet, around 9,500 chickens were buried alive due to sharp price decline on a farm owned by Ramachandra Reddy of Bangarapet and operated by Satish from K R Puram, Bengaluru, on contract basis. A private firm from Tamil Nadu was rearing the chickens on the farm. The firm bears the maintenance costs.

The cost of one kg of chicken for them had come down from Rs 80 to Rs 30. Satish is said to have incurred losses of up to Rs 20,000.