About three years ago Dilruba Khatun of Meherpur spent Tk 30,000 on 100 Peking Star-13 ducklings. Today her farm holds about 1,000 ducks, and an incubator beside it hatches roughly 2,000 ducklings a week.
Ducks were her third attempt. She first kept budgerigars and lost money during the Covid pandemic, then set up a broiler chicken farm that was hit by bird flu, before turning to ducks as an alternative.
As the flock grew she decided to hatch her own eggs and installed an incubator with a capacity of 36,000 eggs. Demand for the ducklings is strong and they are now supplied to other parts of the country beyond Meherpur.
By her account, after feed, labour, electricity, medicine and other running costs, selling ducks and ducklings brings in about Tk 4 lakh a month. She said the early losses left her discouraged but she kept going, and with demand for ducklings rising she plans to expand.
Md Tofazzal Hossain, Meherpur's district livestock officer, said the district has strong potential for duck rearing given its rural setting, entrepreneurs' interest and market demand for ducks and ducklings, and that training and advice are available for new farmers.
With disease making poultry risky for many small farmers, combining a laying flock with a hatchery gives her two sources of income, an approach other village farmers may find worth studying.
The report is by Krishi Shomoy's Meherpur correspondent.
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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