Ludhiana, Sept. 2 -- The debate over ethanol blended petrol has spilled into Punjab's poultry sector, with farmers claiming that the price of key poultry-feed ingredients has surged sharply over the past three months, pushing up the cost of egg production and raising fears of another increase in retail egg prices.

Poultry farmers say the price of maize, one of the primary ingredients used in poultry feed, has risen substantially, while rates of other feed components such as pearl millet and soybean have also climbed. The rising input costs are now squeezing poultry farmers at a time when consumers are already dealing with higher prices of several essential commodities.

Mohinder Arora, chairman of the Progressive Poultry Farmers Associat...