The Duck Rearing Unit in Magura has failed to earn profit in last 17 years. The farm incurred loss worth Tk 28.20 lakh in 2018-19 fiscal year, said sources of Upazila Livestock Department (ULD) at Magura Sadar.
Although Tk 30 crore and Tk 70 crore have been spent in two phases in 2002 and 2013 respectively to turn the farm profitable, it has been continuing to incur huge loss from its inception on December 28 in 2002.
The ULD sources said that after shifting into revenue sector, the farm earned revenue worth Tk 12, 80,480 from duck rearing in 2018-19 fiscal, but the cost of feeding in the purpose stood at Tk 31 lakh causing a deficit worth about Tk 18.20 lakh.
Apart from loss, the farm incurred an additional loss worth above Tk 10 lakh in 2018-19 fiscal.
In the last fiscal year, apart from the expenses of duck rearing, electricity bills about Tk 3 lakh, UP taxes Tk 30,000, and other costs about Tk 1 lakh were spent excluding the salaries of employees, said Office Assistant of the farm Rassel Mondal.
The farm was set up on 3.18 acres of land at Belnagar village under Kasundi union in Magura Sadar upazila adjacent to Magura-Faridpur highway and about 2.5 km off the district town.
About 500 laying ducks at the farm are now completely deprived of proper nursing in absence of any duck-attendant.
Sources said, the farm began its journey under a development project named 'Duck Rearing Unit'. However, five years of the six-year project were spent to acquire land and construct sheds and other establishments. It was closed and it remained abandoned until October 2013 after the project's tenure expired in 2009. In November in 2013, the second phase of the project began under the name 'Regional Duck Breeding Farm'.
Official sources said, at the beginning of the project's second phase, more Tk 70 crore was spent for constructing several buildings. A veterinary surgeon (VS) who had been serving under the project designated as Poultry Development Officer (PDO) was then the chief executive of the farm, while two other employees from revenue sector and 10 others recruited through outsourcing were working at the establishment.
The farm then became fully equipped with a capacity to breed a total of 5,000 ducks and rear the ducklings per month. But, as the tenure of the project's second phase has also expired in last year's June and the farm was shifted into revenue sector excluding its former manpower, it was renamed as 'Duck Rearing Unit'.
The costly hatching-machine and an incubator have been lying useless and gradually being damaged, as those were never used due to mismanagement of the farm, while both the vehicles, including the pickup van, are now remaining under the authorities of the ULD office, sources said.
Meanwhile, 10 employees have been deprived of their salaries for the last 14 months as their jobs were not transferred into revenue sector.
Mohammad Zahidul Islam, a duck-attendant of the farm, said, "I have been serving at the farm from its very beginning, but my job was not transferred into revenue sector. I could not go home even on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha due to monetary problem."
During a visit to the farm, this correspondent saw that shortage of manpower has not only been causing negligence of proper care for the laying ducks but also turned the farm like an abandoned area paving the way to sprout different kinds of weeds on its premises and reducing the total location into a grazing ground of poisonous snakes and other reptiles.
Talking to the Bangladesh Post, Poultry Technician (PT) of the farm Abu Sohel Mohammad Ariful Islam said, "If you come here at night you will see poisonous snakes. We have stored bottles of carbolic acid at different corners of our dormitories and places to get rid of venomous snakes."
Upazila Livestock Officer (ULO) Dr Anwarul Karim admitted the deplorable condition of the farm. He said, "I have been given the additional responsibility of the farm's PDO. But it's totally absurd as the post of VS has also been lying vacant for long. After discharging the duties and responsibilities of ULO, I also have to perform that of VS. So, I can hardly manage time to look after the farm properly."
District Livestock Officer (DLO) Mohammad Hadiuzzaman told the Bangladesh Post that they are trying their best to gear up the activities of the farm. He said that manpower would be employed through outsourcing.
When asked about the continuous losses and the way to get rid of the deficit of the farm, the DLO opined that the farm would be turned as a profitable one if it could be run on the basis of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
President of District Poultry Farm Owners Association MH Rahman Shiblu, however, contradicted with the opinion of DLO, and said, "To run a farm on the basis of PPP is a good suggestion. But it's totally ridiculous to me why government took initiative to set up a duck farm when we know that there is a little demand flesh and eggs of duck in comparison to those of chicken."
"As the farm has been transferred into revenue sector, now it could be twisted into a poultry one and run on the basis of PPP. Then it will turn profitable," he added.
