The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) of India has appealed to the government to grant a one-year moratorium on payment of interest and loans used by poultry farmers. The organization believes that the moratorium will provide immediate relief to the farmers who have been facing a severe financial crisis for the past two years because of an unprecedented increase in the cost of essential feed ingredients such as corn and soybeans.

Since April 2012, soymeal prices have been constantly rising in India, and has now reached unaffordable levels. NECC has cited forward trading, exports, speculation and manipulation of price by traders and multi-national companies as reasons for the jump in soy costs, the organization said in a press release. The price of soymeal, according to the committee, has jumped about 67 percent in two years’ time. The increase in input costs has led to a 35 percent jump in the costs it takes to produce one egg, according to the Hindu Business Line.

Already worried about the high cost of soymeal, the NECC says egg and poultry producers are also concerned that the costs of feed may further increase, as there is a strong possibility that insufficient rainfall will lead to a smaller soybean crop.