Gachhpara Kamarnaogaon beel lies in Fazilhati union of Delduar upazila, Tangail. Using the water of this beel, Aminur Rahman of Kamarnaogaon village has built a mobile duck farm. About a year ago he bought 1,000 Jinding and Khaki Campbell ducklings for Tk 35,000 to start the farm. After the first three to four months of rearing, the farm has been producing an average of 300 to 350 eggs a day.

Wholesalers buy the eggs at the farm at Tk 1,100 a hundred (Tk 44 a hali, or four). The 350 eggs a day sell for Tk 3,800, and his monthly income from eggs is now Tk 1 lakh 15 thousand. Aminur has been collecting 350 eggs a day for five months in a row, and sometimes the farm gives him 400 eggs. He is now self-reliant.

A visit showed that the water of Gachhpara Kamarnaogaon beel has dried up and the whole beel has turned into farmland, where boro rice will be planted in a few days. Even so, Aminur is rearing ducks on a mobile farm next to the beel. In the rainy season the land turns into a waterbody again.

This winter most of the beel's water has dried up, leaving only a little here and there. When Aminur calls "aay-aay" a few times from a single-roofed hut on a patch of higher ground nearby, the thousand or so ducks spread far across the beel come quacking back one by one. He mainly calls them in at feeding time. He has also made a place to sleep in a corner of the hut so he can guard the ducks. Through will, effort and tireless work, Aminur, who has returned from abroad, now earns a lakh taka a month from his duck farm. The mobile farm has changed his fortune and given local people the inspiration to become self-reliant.

Explaining how he came to duck farming, Aminur said that 10 to 12 years ago he traded in wheat. From each day's profit he would buy one duck, until he had 165. He understood the profit in duck rearing from then on. For a long time he supported his family on the income from ducks, and also raised the cost of going abroad. To earn more, he went to Saudi Arabia, and after returning he went on to Singapore. Thinking he would earn more from ducks than abroad, he came home.

At first he was unemployed after returning. A few days later, about a year ago, he bought the 1,000 Jinding and Khaki Campbell ducklings for Tk 35,000 and set up the mobile farm. He built a house for the ducks, which did not cost much. Because the farm is mobile, the ducks are always on water, which keeps feed costs low.

For this reason the ducks were first taken to his in-laws' home in the Kamarnaogaon Sikdarbari area, then to his own home, and then to the Kamarnaogaon beel. The ducks stay on the beel while it has water, and are taken elsewhere when it dries up, so the farm has to be moved wherever there is water. He is now thinking of moving the ducks to the Singharagi area of neighbouring Elasin union, beside the Dhaleshwari.

For lack of water, he has had to move three times in the past nine months.

He said the farm sold Tk 5 lakh of eggs over the past four or five months, against costs of Tk 2 lakh. The ducks are still laying regularly. At Tk 400 each, the 1,000 ducks would also sell for about Tk 4 lakh, all of which would be profit. On this basis, he said, he is earning more than a lakh taka a month.

Aminur Rahman added that if the waterbodies held enough water, feed costs would fall and eggs would cost less to produce. But because the water has fallen, he has to keep the ducks at home for much of the time. Even so, he wants to bring 3,000 ducklings to his farm this year. He now earns more than he did abroad, and many neighbours, inspired by him, are thinking of starting farms.

To unemployed young people, Aminur said there is no reason to despair: with proper hard work, duck rearing can earn more than money from abroad. Many people now come to him for advice on duck rearing. He said farmers would benefit if the livestock department regularly inspected such farms, supplied vaccines free and gave regular advice and support. Duck rearing is a profitable venture, and with government patronage the sector could become a promising one, he believes.

He said he has taken training under the upazila Department of Livestock Services, 17 days in the first phase and 21 days in the second, and can now give first aid on the farm himself. Ducks fall ill less while they are laying, but their calcium drops at this time, he said, so once they start laying he gives them PL. As a result, his treatment costs have fallen considerably.

On his farm he makes the duck feed himself by mixing broken wheat, bran and paddy. No bought feed is given on the farm.

Dr Mohammad Ali, veterinary surgeon at the Delduar upazila livestock department, said Aminur's duck farm is without doubt a good initiative. But to keep the ducks healthy, they must be given the regular vaccines and the duck cholera vaccine on schedule. Vaccines, treatment and advice are provided at government-set prices, he said.

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