The Sri Lankan Ministry of Agriculture has announced plans to import 176,000 hatching eggs from the Netherlands to mitigate the country's chicken meat and egg shortage. The import, facilitated by the state-owned National Livestock Development Board, is expected to arrive in the country next month. The Ministry, led by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, will distribute the eggs to private sector chicken farms at a subsidized price, in an effort to reduce the impact of rising chicken and egg prices due to high feed costs and a limited supply of hatching eggs and chickens.