Akmal Hossain, a poultry farmer in Ishwardi, Pabna, who has received the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award, has done well by rearing colour bird chickens and hatching chicks from their eggs. He is encouraging other farmers to take up this new breed, and on his advice many farmers in Ishwardi and across Pabna district have started raising colour birds. Farmers are turning to them because production costs are relatively low and profits much higher.

Farmers say the colour bird looks just like a deshi (local) chicken. Its colourful feathers make it very attractive, and its meat is tasty. Many people who do not like broiler meat now prefer colour bird meat, which is not as tough as deshi chicken nor as soft as broiler. A Sonali chicken takes 70 days to reach 1 kg, while a colour bird reaches 1 kg in only 40 days. Demand for it in the market is also higher than for any other breed, they said.

They added that raising colour birds commercially needs less capital than other chickens. The birds have strong disease resistance and a much lower death rate. Market demand is good, and they are selling from the farm to traders at Tk 240 to Tk 250 a kg.

Shah-Alam, a poultry farmer in Roknpur village, told Jagonews24 that raising colour birds is more profitable than broilers or Sonali chickens. "I now have 4,000 colour birds on my farm. The profit I made from colour birds in one year would not have been possible with other chickens. Demand for the meat is also good. Farmer Akmal Hossain helped and advised me on raising this breed, and on his advice many people like me have profited."

Abu Raihan Biswas, owner of Biswas Poultry in Baraichara village of the upazila, said colour birds now give a fairly good profit compared with other chickens. The market price is good, and with less disease there is less risk of loss. Only the chicks cost more than those of other breeds. At a time when farmers are losing money on broilers and Sonali chickens, colour birds have raised the prospect of at least some profit, he said.

At Akmal Hossain's farm in Kamalpur village of Dashuria union, there are about 22,000 chickens of various kinds, including layers, Sonali and colour birds, of which 3,000 are colour birds.

Akmal Hossain told Jagonews24 he started his poultry farm in 2008. At that time an egg cost Tk 4 to produce and sold for Tk 5-6, and broilers cost Tk 55-65 a kg to raise and sold for Tk 80-90. It was a golden time for farm businesses, but the trade has collapsed over the past few years.

Many farmers lost their capital and closed their farms, he said. About 150 to 200 farms in the upazila have shut, and farmers are in debt and at their wits' end. Through colour birds, farmers can make a profit again, which is why he has placed great importance on encouraging others to raise the breed.

He said that alongside the farm he has set up a small hatchery that can produce one lakh chicks a month, hatching Sonali and colour bird chicks. It is the only hatchery in Pabna district producing colour bird chicks, which sell for Tk 45 to Tk 50 each. Every farmer who has started raising colour birds is profiting, and the breed can play an important role in meeting the country's demand for meat, he said.

Upazila livestock officer Nazmul Hossain told Jagonews24 that farmers in the area did not raise colour birds before, but some have now started. The livestock office helps farmers with all kinds of advice, he said.

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