LARKANA: Local chicken commonly known here as “Sindhi Kukur or Murgy” is on the verge of elimination in the entire Larkana district until and unless arrangements are made for it’s breeding.

It was learnt here on Saturday when this Scribe went through the Sindhi poultry vendors located at various places including Meat and Poultry Market in Larkana and Naundero.

Vendors in Larkana including Ghulam Rasul, Abdullah, Ali Hyder and others said that the Sindhi chicken is not available in the entire Larkana district and they procure it from other districts such as Kambar-Shahdadkot and Khairpur. They said that previously one kg Sindhi chicken was sold by them at Rs500 per kg but now it’s being sold at Rs700 per kg which too is unavailable because of short supply from those cycle-vendors who procure them from villages and bring them here for sale. They said that people here mostly want to procure male chicken weighing not more than 1250 gram and chicken over and above this weight are sent to Lahore, Multan and other areas of Punjab where these chickens are in great demand throughout the year and rates are also much higher than Sindh.

Mumtaz Ali Narejo, proprietor, Narejo Desi Murgi Shop, Naundero, said that they are selling Sindhi chicken between Rs700 to 750 per kg but their chickens are mostly sent to Punjab where they have also established a branch office in the name of Anwar Sindhi Pure Desi Murgi at General Bus Stand, Badami Bagh, Lahore, where they get better rates. They said that they procure chicken from Nawabshah, Qubo Saeed Khan and Sajawal (Kambar-Shahdadkot district), Kumb (Khairpur district) where weekly a market is established by the locals where they bring their chickens for sale and other districts of the province.

Asked as to why Dessi chicken is gradually being eliminated from Larkana district, he replied that it is because of great demand in Punjab where people buy these chickens wholeheartedly without taking care of rates, sizes, gender and weights. He said poverty is another factor which has forced poor to sell their chickens to feed their family members in this massive price-hike era. He said everyday they send big chicken wooden boxes on buses to Lahore which are delivered safely the next day and sold there without any trouble. He said during last winter season one Sindhi chicken egg was sold here at Rs25 which was previously sold at Rs15 and that too was not available.

Asked as to why people in towns have left upbringing of these chicken which were done in large numbers in the past he said that the number of family members have increased and the homes have become very narrow hence those who were fond of bringing up these chicken have abandoned this practice because of unavailability of space which is must for these chicken. He said people living in villages have large spacious spaces where these chickens are still brought up but it has mostly vanished from the Larkana district. He said that if this state of affairs continued then we will soon only read in the books that there were also Sindhi chickens as well and people will not only miss their delicious, tasty and energetic meat but also nutritious eggs.

He said it would be better if the provincial government took concrete efforts to save this extremely wonderful chicken from total collapse adding Sindh government should open poultry farms in every district where these Sindhi chickens should be brought up to save it’s breed for future. Narejo said government authorities will have to take immediate steps to save this breed for coming generations as it has taken actions to save wildlife.