Until recently Shahin of Gayerpara village in Naogaon Sadar was out of work. Inspired by duck-farming success stories on television and YouTube, four months ago he bought 700 six-month-old ducks at Tk 300 each, Tk 2.1 lakh in all, and began raising them on an open water body beside his home called Beel Monsur, BSS reported.
The ducks forage on the beel all day for snails, fish and insects, and are fed paddy and feed at the farm at night. Rakib, from Joypurhat, looks after the flock. By his account, the night feed takes one and a half maunds of paddy (Tk 1,000) and 10 kg of feed (Tk 750) a day; with his Tk 500 daily wage, the farm costs Tk 2,250 a day.
The flock now lays at least 500 eggs a day, sold wholesale at Tk 15 each, Tk 7,500 a day. After costs that leaves a net Tk 5,250 a day, or about Tk 1,57,500 a month, Rakib calculated. Shahin says the household is now comfortable.
Md Mohidur Rahman, general secretary of Naogaon Prokriti O Jibon Corner, and villagers Nantu and Zahid said the area is mainly beel country where families keep a few ducks, but nobody had farmed them commercially at scale before; Shahin's farm has caused a stir locally.
District livestock officer Dr Md Zohurul Islam said ducks need a lot of food and an open beel supplies plenty naturally, so the method keeps costs down and makes it profitable. Duck meat and eggs are less common than chicken, he said, but demand for them is ample.
Photo: Chris Paul / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: BSS
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