After a few months break consumers in the city are again opting for chickens and eggs as the bird flu scare is diminishing fast.

Sellers at kitchen markets said their sale of poultry, both live and dressed, is slowly recovering.

Chicken and egg went off the menu most of Bangladeshi households after bird flu infested almost half of the poultry farms around the country. Most of the restaurants also stopped serving chicken items.

Jahanara Aktar, a customer at Karwan Bazar said, “We haven't heard of anyone in

Bangladesh dying of bird flu. Children like chicken. So it is back on our menu.”

“Vegetable, beef and fish sellers are taking advantage of bird flu situation and increased the prices,” said Alek Munshi, another customer at the same market who bought broiler chicken from a store.

"Since it is safe to eat cooked poultry and egg and everything else is pricey too, so why not bring it back in the menu," he added.

Price of chicken however is still high -- especially the local breeds are costlier.

At Karwan Bazar one kilogram of local breed chicken costs about Tk 180 while broiler chicken Tk 90. Superstores in the capital are charging around Tk 225 for one kilo dressed chicken.

According to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, around 150,000 poultry farms in Bangladesh produce 320,000 tonnes of meat and over five million eggs annually.

According to the Bangladesh chapter of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA), in October 2007 monthly consumption of poultry meat in Bangladesh was around 26,600 tonnes, which came down to 12,000 tonnes during the four-month period until February 2008, marking a fall of nearly 55 percent.

Total loss incurred by the poultry industry is more than Tk 4,200 crore. Bird flu has been confirmed at farms and households in 47 out of 64 districts.

Sources at the Department of Livestock Services said bird flu infection is gradually easing up. In February around 93 farms were infested, which came down to 60 in March.

"We are hoping the situation will improve with warmer weather approaching," said a high official from the department.

Easing up bird flu condition and improved sale are raising hopes among the poultry farm owners and businessmen.

Abul Hossain Patowari, general secretary, Kaptanbazar Poultry Baboshayee Samiti, said, “We had to deal with a serious blow during the last few months. The sale at Kaptanbazar had decreased around 40 percent during the period.”

Patowari added that before bird flu episode Kaptanbazar used to receive more than 100 truckloads of live chickens a day from across the country.

“The sale is not like before, but it is improving very slowly. There is a high demand for local breeds,” he said.

Md Sirajul Hoque Bhuiyan, general manager, Aftab Poultry, said, "The awareness campaign on TV, radio and in newspapers seems to be effective.”

"Our main customers including top hotels, restaurants, fast food and mega shops almost stopped taking dressed chickens but they are back with us," he added.

In February Aftab sold around 33,000 kgs of chicken, which increased to 80,000 kgs this month.

Zakir Hossain, deputy manager (retail and customer care), Kazi Farms, said, “We experienced a slump in sales in January. Now there are chances that the market will be stable gradually as the people's negative attitude is changing fast.”

Kazi has eight retail outlets and home delivery services in the city, which sold about 63,000 live chickens this month. The sale was only 25,000 in January.

With the sales improving, market hygiene situation is back in its original condition.

Apart from a few major markets, poultry waste is not being taken care of properly in most kitchen markets around the city. Poultry sellers still care very little about personal safety and continue to work manually without safety gears.