Leaving a high-paying job and a modern life abroad, computer engineer Imrul Hasan has devoted himself to farm production for the public good. On his ancestral land in Kaliakair, Gazipur, he has built a 100 per cent antibiotic-free poultry farm and delivers chicken meat to consumers' homes himself.

The World Health Organization began pushing on antibiotic use in livestock from the mid-1990s. European countries then became very strict, and the push reached Asia, including Bangladesh. Yet antibiotics remain essential at every level of livestock production, from poultry onwards.

Imrul Hasan had understood these issues for a long time. After surviving a life-threatening bout of COVID-19, last October he set out to build a fully antibiotic-free poultry farm.

He now raises common broilers, Sonali and mixed-colour birds in three sheds. The farm has simple infrastructure but follows modern technology, and purity is maintained in making feed. He says avoiding harmful substances like antibiotics raises production costs, but he will not compromise on it.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.