Rangpur region is advancing faster than other regions of the country in terms of setting up of modern feed mills, hatcheries and poultry farms. However, farmers are frustrated over the increasing price of chicken feed, unavailability of fair egg price, and complications in getting incentives.
Although the price of broiler chicken has gone up a bit, they are not getting the fair price for layer chicken eggs. Farmers are more interested in raising layer chickens especially for egg production.
However, most of the times they have to count the losses due to the collapse in the egg market due to middlemen. As a result, the dream of farmers and traders to lead the poultry industry of Rangpur region to the future is being shattered.
Farmers said that without poultry industry, it would not have been possible to meet the demand for eggs and chicken meat of the people of the country. Poultry has caused a silent revolution. This industry has not only met the demand for animal meat but has also created employment and alleviated human poverty.
“In order to meet the demand of the future, on the one hand we have to increase commercial production and on the other hand we have to think about the protection of small farmers”, they added.
Visiting on spot it can be seen that different types of broiler and layer chicken farms have been established in different parts of Rangpur city. “Many times there is profit, but sometimes there is a huge amount of loss due to various reasons”, said the farmers.
They added, “Although there is some profit in rearing broiler chickens at present, they say that the losses in layer chickens are being calculated as the egg market has gone into the hands of middlemen. Besides, the price of chicken feed has almost doubled in the last four months.”
However, there are some success stories in this industry as well. Maryam Begum has become successful in sorting her life out by running a chicken farm. The chicken farm built on 42 acres of land in Dhap Sardarpara area of Rangpur city has changed her fortune. After building a broiler farm in 2015, she did not have to look back.
Even after providing for the family expenses including the education of her children, excluding the expenses of raising chickens, her monthly income is now Tk 20 to 25 thousand.
At present, she is selling broiler chickens at Tk 140 per kg, she said, adding that she has built three houses in the area and rented them with the farm income and the income generated from those houses is also being added to her family now making her self sufficient in more than one way.
On the other hand there are some tragic stories as well. Ruhul Moazzem had set up a layer chicken farm in Burirhat Bahadur Singh area of the city. At present there are seven thousand chickens in his farm.
Although he started the farm with a CC loan of Tk 30 lakh a few years ago, his investment so far is Tk 70-80 lakh in total. He has to count the losses every month to meet the expenses as the price of chicken feed has gone up and the market for eggs has not been good.
Ruhul Moazzem said that at the end of last year, the price of chicken feed was Tk 30 to 32 per kg. At the end of this year, the price of the same feed has reached Tk 39 per kg.
Meanwhile, a hundred eggs produced on a farm were sold for Tk 750 to 800. At present those eggs are being sold at Tk 580 to 600. The farmers are counting losses for this. However, the middlemen are the reaping huge benefits from this situation, he added.
He said complaining that, farmers were supposed to get incentives from the bank but it did not happen. Even after applying in three phases from October last year, he did not get any incentive yet. The farmers are losing their interest in this sector due to these reasons.
Rangpur livestock office says there are more than 7,000 poultry farms in the division. Of these, 2,800 are of layer chickens and about 4,000 are of broiler chickens. The total number of chickens is about 3 crore.
Although the egg production target is 143 crore pieces, the production is only 140 crore pieces. Egg production was one tenth of the production target only 10 years ago, he added.
He also informed, the meat demand of 1.55 crore people of the whole division is six lakh seventy-two thousand tonnes and the actual production is about six lakh two thousand tonnes.
Shahjalal Khandaker, Deputy Director of Rangpur Livestock Department, said poultry industry in Rangpur is now working to meet national demand beyond regional boundaries. The development of poultry industry in Rangpur, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts in the last 10 years has changed the economic picture of the region.
In order to continue the trend of development of this poultry industry, the prices of all kinds of industrial based products starting from poultry feed should be kept at a tolerable level. Only then will the number of farms increase and the problem of unemployment will be solved, he added.