Dr. Parveen Kumar
All of us are familiar with a childhood story, ’The Hen that Laid Golden Eggs’. It is the story of a farmer who had a Hen that laid a golden egg every day. The farmer presumed that the Hen must contain a huge amount of gold in it inside in the shape of eggs and a novel but wicked idea crept in his mind. He thought of getting that gold immediately at once instead of getting it in installments by waiting daily for the hen to lay the golden egg. Out of greed, he made a fatal mistake. He killed his hen only to lose the source of treasure as well as an opportunity to become wealthier.
Although the story is an imagination, yet during our childhood when most of us listened to or read this story; we assumed it to be a true one.
During course of time, I realized that it is simply not possible and the story is just a cautionary tale with a moral that being greedy can lead to the loss of what we have and can even bring about misery. The story emphasizes the importance of appreciating what we have and not being consumed by the desire for more.
As years passed on until a few months back, I found a farmer who gets eggs that are not of gold, but are no less than gold for him. It happened when during one of my field visit to a village in district Ramban, I got an opportunity to meet Abdul Waheed; a progressive farmer from village Kabbi in Kabbi Panchayat falling in block Gandhri of district Ramban.
The district is a rainfed one wherein cultivation of different crops is dependent upon timely and adequate availability of rainfall. The average size of holdings in the district is very less. More than 90 percent of the farming community falls in marginal and small category with land less than 2 hectares. I sought to know more about how in such a water scarce region, different crops are being cultivated and what is major source of livelihood here for the villagers?
As I started conversing and observing, I learnt that Poultry is an important allied activity and a diversification strategy for the farming community of this region.
Owing to the success of poultry farming for Abdul Waheed, it will not be wrong to say that he is a man with golden eggs. Poultry farming is giving good returns to Mr. Waheed. He raises broilers as well as chicks for meat as well as egg purpose. He is getting a handsome income from broilers which he rears only for meat purpose. Broilers are purchased by him @ rupees 50-55 per bird, these birds attain a weight of about two kilogram after two months and are than sold at the rate of rupees 130 per kilogram.
Abdul Waheed further told that 1000 no. of broilers easily give him an additional income of rupees one lakh per year after deducting the cost incurred on their feed and other miscellaneous expenses related to their rearing. Among the different breed of Hens which he usually rears for eggs are Black Australorp, Rhode Island Red (RIR) and Sonali which have good egg lying capacity and some of them can lay can lay as much as 240-250 eggs in a year. At present, he is also taking 50-60 eggs daily.
Each egg is sold at the rate of rupees ten which fetches him an additional income of rupees 500-600 daily and 15000-18000 per month. He also does not face any issue in marketing of eggs as all the eggs are sold in local market within no time. Even people personally visit Abdul Waheed to get eggs.
A few days back cloudburst had struck the district leading to a large scale devastation of life and property. Almost entire fruit crops of Apricot, Peach and Walnut became the causality as fast blowing winds along with hailstorms resulted in fruit drop and in some cases uprooted away the fruit plants. Vegetables were uprooted and heavy rains destroyed the standing wheat and other crops. It was only Poultry which came to rescue of poultry farmers like Abdul Waheed.
Eggs and broilers ensured that he has a source of income other than crops on which majority of the farming community of the region depends. Also, the crops only give an income only once after they are harvested during their entire life cycle. But eggs are a regular source of income for Abdul Waheed giving him at least some amount on daily basis without much investment.
Poultry farming in the country has emerged as a very profitable business. While the production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5 to 2 percent per annum, but that of eggs and broilers has been rising at a rate of 8 to 10 percent per annum. As per a result, India is now the world’s fifth largest egg producer and eighteenth largest producer of broilers. The small scale poultry farming is the widespread animal production system in India. Poultry farming has tremendous potential and is considered as one of most potential diversification strategy to augment the income and nutrition of small and marginal farmers. The sector can help achieve country nutritional security for all. It is also true that Poultry business requires proper planning and management.
For this different government agencies need to reach out to poultry farmers like Abdul Waheed residing in different nooks and corners of the country. They must be equipped with all the relevant skills, their knowledge should be updated and they should be provided with the necessary hand holding in form of marketing, credit and insurance services.
To conclude, innovative farmers like Abdul Waheed are torch bearers for the entire farming community of the region. He has proved that eggs although not of gold; are no less than gold for him. These eggs are his valuable asset which at times becomes a main source of livelihood for him enabling him to fulfill his various domestic as well as social needs.
The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at [email protected]
