By Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, Aug 2, 2021 (BSS) - Duck farming has made fortunes of many people in both rural and urban areas because they are relying on it as an effective means of attaining economic emancipation.

Rubel Islam, 35, who used to sell his labour earlier, has now become financially solvent through the duck farming for the last couple of years contributing to the society in many ways.    

Islam, a resident of Bakshimoil village under Mohanpur Upazila in the district, started the venture with around 300 chicks. At present, he sells 200 to 250 eggs a day on an average besides selling ducks in wholesale markets. In this way, he earns a profit of around Taka 20,000 to 25,000 per month on an average.  

"I couldn't get the scopes of institutional learning due to poverty that forced me to sale labour on others land," said Rubel Islam, adding the worst situation has overcome at present.  

Upazila Livestock Officer Saiful Islam said like Rubel, many others have found the path of becoming self-reliant through duck and poultry farming. "We are providing technical and other consultation services to the farmers in this field," he added.

He said ducks need less expensive, simple and non-elaborate housing facilities resulting in very less cost for setting up commercial duck farming businesses. They are very hardy birds and they need less care or management.

They can adapt to almost all types of environmental conditions. The ducks are mostly fed home-made feed.

Most of the farmers provided rice polish, boiled rice and broken rice as supplementary feed ingredients to ducks either singly or in groups.

Rakesh Babu, 54, a resident of Gopalpur village under Godagari Upazila, is now dreaming of becoming a successful entrepreneur through duck farming.

 After collecting 175 chicks from Kakonhat, he started the business around four years back. Now, he has around 1,500 ducks on his farm.

Babu, who suffered the curse of a longtime jobless situation, is now enthusiastic about further expansion of his business in the days to come as his business is contributing a lot to the society in many ways.

"I bring one-day-old duck chicks to rear them for four months till they start laying eggs. Every day I have to spend around Tk 5,000 for their food, medicine and my employee's salary. The upazila livestock office supplies vaccines," he said.

He said he now gets 900 eggs daily on an average throughout the year and makes profit around Tk 1.20 lakh per month.

Prof Dr Jalal Uddin Sarder of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science of Rajshahi University said duck farming has been eradicating various social problems related to poverty, unemployment and malnutrition in particular.

In many areas, the duck rearing has started contributing a lot towards mitigating the problems to some extent as women, particularly the housewives, are mostly involved in rearing ducks of indigenous species.

Prof Jalal Sarder opined that duck farming has now been a reliable source of promoting small-scale entrepreneurship in both rural and urban areas in the region as many unemployed people became self-reliant in this field.

High price and scarcity of feed during the dry season were the major constraints for duck production. Use of natural feed resources in an increasing manner may help overcome the feed problem.

Regular vaccination and the use of cost-effective balanced diets can have a decisive effect on duck rearing.