Kurigram poultry farms stare at closure

Is the heyday for Kurigram poultry farmers coming to an end?

Many of the farmers think so. A lucrative business since 2005 is now losing money. The farmers blame abnormal hike in the prices of poultry feeds, layer chickens and vaccines for their woes apart from the middle men. The Covid-19 pandemic has also hurt the farming.

Consider the tale of Md Dollar, the owner of Dhorola Poultry Farm in Kuti village.

He started his business with 1000 brown layer chickens in 2005 with an investment Tk 5 lakh.

“The business was quite good until 2015/16. That’s why I expanded my business. Currently, I have 20,000 layers in my farm,” he said.

He now regrets the expansion as the business has started going down with prices of feeds and other inputs going up.

“I have to pay Tk 700 more per sack of seeds. The price soared from Tk 1600 per sack to Tk 2300,” he said adding that the prices of vaccines also increased.

“Due to the price hike, I am losing Tk 10,000-15,000 per month”, Dollar said.

Mominul Islam, owner of Sadrisshow poultry farm has a similar story to tell.

He has 6,000 layers in his farm. “I have built the infrastructure with a cost of Tk 60/70 lakh for my business. I have borrowed Tk 6 lakh from a local NGO and I pay an installment of Tk 60,000 per month.”

Islam said he now counts a loss of Tk 30,000 per month. “Even I cannot shut the business as I have invested a huge amount of money,” Mominul added.

Like Mominul and Dollar many others are making losses and staring at closure. Some of them already have shut their business.