Rakibul Islam of Sahebnagar village in Mirpur upazila, Kushtia, now keeps 15 dumba, the fat-tailed sheep, on a farm he started with a single pair in early 2024. He has already sold six grown animals for Tk 12 lakh.
Rakibul, 36, began rearing buffaloes about ten years ago. In March 2023 a brain haemorrhage left the left side of his body paralysed. Long treatment brought some recovery, but he could no longer do the same physical work and had to close the buffalo farm.
Looking for income that asked less of his body, he heard through an acquaintance of a dumba farm in Natore. He went to see how the animals were reared and managed, then bought a ram and a ewe and started at home. The money from selling his buffaloes was going into building a house, and he says he feared losing that capital.
By his figures, a dumba lamb is worth about Tk 1 lakh and a grown animal sells for Tk 2 lakh to Tk 3 lakh. He says the ewes lamb twice a year, and three of his 15 are due soon.
Feed needs no special arrangement, Rakibul says: green grass, straw, bran and gram, with vitamins now and then. Sujon Hasan, who looks after the farm, says the animals get indoor feed in the morning, go out to graze, and need only water and a little extra feed in the afternoon. They are washed twice a month and the shed is kept clean.
Dr Md Abdullahil Kafi, livestock extension officer for Mirpur upazila, says dumba can be profitable on a small scale in a home setting and that Rakibul's farm shows it. Unemployed young people, he says, could invest in such farms at home rather than spending money on going abroad, provided care and management are sound.
Photo: Man77 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Source: Agricare24
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