Housewife Shirina Khatun started rearing ducks with a pair she bought from a hawker, using money from selling mushti rice, the handful of rice set aside at each meal. Ten years on, she earns about Tk 50,000 a year from selling grown ducks and eggs. Shirina, wife of farmer Rezek Ali of Khordosadhua village in Gopgram union, Khoksa upazila, is now self-reliant.

Shirina used to spend her time at home after finishing the household work. Hearing a hawker's loudspeaker, she took a fancy to rearing ducklings. She bought a pair of ducklings for Tk 350 from selling mushti rice saved over several weeks. A few months later she bought another pair with money from selling duck eggs. She rears ducks while there is water in the beel during the monsoon, and keeps them shut in at home for the few months they are laying. Following her example, many women in the village have started seasonal duck rearing.

On the morning of 28 June, Shirina was buying ducklings from a hawker on the dirt road beside her house along with neighbouring women. She said she has started collecting ducklings this year and will buy around a hundred. There has never been a dispute with farmers over the ducks going into the beel; everyone helps them. Now everyone in the village rears ducks, she said.

Shirina complained: "Every year some ducks die of new diseases. But there is nobody from the government to treat the ducks."

Following her lead, Babita, wife of neighbour Osman Sheikh, has started seasonal duck rearing. She now owns 40–50 ducks and will take on some more ducklings this year.

Local people said the beel area offers plenty of natural feed for ducks during the monsoon, which is why every household rears ducks seasonally. Villagers start buying ducklings from hawkers at the beginning of the month of Asharh.

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