Md Yamin, a 22-year-old student in Bhola, began rearing pigeons as a hobby after buying two pairs at a local market. His flock has kept growing ever since. He now sells squabs every month, and the money from pigeon sales covers his studies and his pocket money.

Yamin is the son of Md Yunus Howlader of the Syed Ahmed Howlader Bari in Tulatuli village, ward No 2 of Dhania union in Bhola Sadar upazila. He is a third-year undergraduate at Naziur Rahman Degree College in the Paranganj area of Bhola Sadar.

A visit to his home found that Yamin has built a house for the pigeons next to the family home. In the morning the birds come out and perch on the branches of nearby trees. As soon as Yamin stands in the yard with a bowl of feed they rush to him, and he scatters the feed across the yard. After eating, the pigeons fly off in different directions, and they come back to their house as darkness falls in the evening.

Yamin told Jago News that he had always loved keeping pigeons. Several years ago he went to the local market with his father and bought two pairs to start with, and the flock grew from them. He now has Bangla, recher, homa, king, kakji and Bombay pigeons, and sells squabs every month.

He sells more than 100 pairs of squabs a year, at Tk 300 to nearly Tk 1,000 a pair. Yamin said the money from pigeon sales pays for the birds' feed, his studies and his pocket money.

He feeds the pigeons rice, broken rice, paddy, mustard, wheat, maize and other feed. His parents and the whole family encourage him. If he does not get a good government job after his studies, he plans to set up a large pigeon farm and become a big entrepreneur. He said that unemployed young people who set up a reasonably large pigeon farm could earn Tk 1 lakh to Tk 1.5 lakh a month, or even more.

Yamin's father, Md Yunus Howlader, said his son had always wanted to keep pigeons, so he bought him two pairs. Yamin now has many pigeons, and local people come to the house to see them. He added that Yamin had built the pigeon house with money from selling the birds, and pays for his studies, the pigeons' feed and his own expenses the same way.

Bhola District Livestock Officer Md Rafiqul Islam Khan said there are many students like Yamin who started keeping pigeons as a hobby and have now set up commercial pigeon farms. Many young people in Bhola district have also become financially self-reliant through pigeon farming. "We are giving all of them every kind of advice," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.