Trishal farmers earn Tk1,800cr annually

Although Trishal upazila of Mymensingh is usually admired for fisheries but in the past few years, cattle and poultry farming also gained popularity due to huge profits that draw approximately Tk1800 crore annually.

Traders are selling them across the country after meeting the local demand. Hundreds of cattle and poultry farms have been set up across the upazila, creating employments to numerous youths.

According to Trishal upazila Livestock Office, the upazila has become popular for production of egg, meat and milk along with fisheries.

According to the livestock office, the upazila has 592 layer farms for egg and meat production, 533 broiler farms and 12,796 cattle farms for milk production. In the FY2021-22, around 17 crore eggs, 24,700 metric tonnes of meat and 37,500 metric tonnes of milk were produced in the upazila.

The demand in Trishal is 7 crore eggs, 21,800 metric tonnes of meat and 27,000 metric tonnes of milk annually while surplus amounts are sold in Dhaka, Chattogram and other parts of the country. Day by day, people of remote areas in the upazila are also getting motivated towards poultry and cattle farming.

The surplus meat, milk and eggs are distributed across the country through wholesalers.

Visiting the upazila recently, The Business Post correspondent saw that along with the upazila town, poultry farms of broiler, layer, sonali and titir chicken were established in every union. Many chose to establish farms commercially hoping for profits while many have established small farms in yards of their houses, aiming to gradually expand the business.

Many people have set up farms with foreign variety of cow and bull of different sizes for milk production. Apart from that, many locals were seen having one or two cattle at their homes to fulfil their domestic needs and for additional earnings. Wholesalers also collect milk from different houses. Poultry farmers also sell the layer chicken after their production period concludes.

Local poultry farmers Masud Parvez, Mahabub Hasan, Harun Ur Rashid said that number of layer and broiler farms increased rapidly in the area due to spiralling demand for eggs and broiler meat.

Earlier, poultry business was more profitable but now prices of poultry food, vaccine and labour costs increased significantly which reduced the profit margin a lot, they said.

They have to pay huge amount for labour, power supply, veterinary treatment, vaccine and food but receive narrow income, the poultry farmers alleged.

The business will turn over again, if the government take measure to reduce the high price of poultry food and vaccine, they explained, adding that, this will also reduce unemployment rate in the upazila.

Local milk farmers Rashid Mia, Abdul Baten, Dulal Mia, Sadequr Rahman, and Sohan Mia said that currently local variety of cow is almost unavailable in the country, so people raise foreign variety of cows in homes alongside farms.

The demand of milk remains round the year across the country. For milk production, farmers have to count Tk 300 to Tk 100 for each cow while they fail to get much profit after spending handsome amounts for cow food, medicine and labour costs.

Price of milk did not hike much compared to production cost. For natural food of cows, farmers use straw, corn, rice and grass which are quite expensive now-a-days. Wholesalers collect milk from houses and farms while each cow provides milk twice a day. Milk will provide satisfactory earning if the price of cow food is remains tolerable, the farmers said.

Rasel Mia, owner of a warehouse of eggs in Trishal, collects around 40,000 to 50,000 eggs from different farms and supplies them to the capital. He said, “Presently, poultry farmers are suffering due to excessive price of poultry food and vaccines despite having huge demand in the markets,” he said.

Upazila livestock and veterinary officer Dr Mohammad Harun Or Rashid said Trishal is famous for producing eggs, meat and milk, just like fishes while every year many people are getting inspired to establish new farms.

But marginal farmers are suffering greatly as all poultry vaccine is imported from foreign countries increasing the production cost a lot, he said.

Livestock office is providing all kinds of supports to establish new farms at marginal level, he said, adding that people have been appointed on field level for resolving problems of marginal farmers.

“Now marginal farmer will not have to come to upazila town for getting any service. People from livestock office will reach the service to farmers’ doorsteps if they call the hotline number,” he added.