Poultry farming expands Joypurhat’s agro-economic horizons

Thanks to various public and private initiatives, the agricultural sector in the region is expanding.

November 03, 2024, 07:35

Last modified: 03 November 2024, 07:41.

A poultry farmer collects eggs from a chicken cage at a poultry farm in Joypurhat. The photo was taken recently. Photo: Mr. Golam Ehsanul Habib

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A poultry farmer collects eggs from a chicken cage at a poultry farm in Joypurhat. The photo was taken recently. Photo: Mr. Golam Ehsanul Habib

Joypurhat, a district largely dependent on agriculture, is now producing more eggs than its requirement, creating new employment opportunities.

Thanks to various government and private initiatives, the agricultural sector in the region is expanding.

Currently, there are 651 layer poultry (egg-producing) factories operating in the district, producing around 31 crore eggs per year, while the local demand is around 9 crore 94 lakh eggs. The market value of these eggs in the district is over Tk 300 crore.

After meeting local demand, more than 200 million eggs are supplied to other regions. The poultry industry in the region directly and indirectly employs more than 2.5 million people.

Jamalganj-based Manjurul Islam, an entrepreneur from Joypurhat Sadar Upazila, said his farm has around 8,000 chickens and produces around 3,500 eggs per day. Recent sales have exceeded 10 tenge per egg.

However, Manjurul said rising prices of feed and medicine due to lack of price controls are affecting the egg market, making it difficult to maintain stable prices.

Anisur Rahman, who has been running the three-storey Manjurul farm for 22 years, said the hybrid chickens start laying eggs at the age of 140 days and continue laying eggs for about 18 months. After this, the chickens are sold in the market at Tk 240 to Tk 250 per kg.

Several egg farmers said rising feed costs had pushed production costs above 9 tenge per egg, with retail prices reaching 12 tenge.

After 2000, poultry farming in Joypurhat has grown significantly, making Jamalganj in Joypurhat a poultry farming hub. While other major industries have not taken off, the poultry sector has daily transactions of TRY 4 to 4.5 crore.

Many educated youth are now joining this sector, like Delwar Hossain from Madarganj in Joypurhat, who owns a farm with 2,000 egg-laying chickens.

Delwar said the poultry industry’s long-term success has led to what can be called a poultry revolution in the county. As a result, many people here have chosen this as their source of livelihood. “We also receive various types of training from both the government and the private sector on safe egg marketing practices,” he said.

To support safe and sustainable development of poultry farming, Joypurhat-based NGO JAKAS Foundation, funded by organizations such as IFAD, PKSF and DANIDA, is working on modern, business-friendly methods.

Through the Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project (RMTP), JAKAS works with more than 10,000 people involved in poultry farming to ensure sustainable practices.

JAKAS Executive Director Nurul Amin said their initiative aims to create a sustainable market for safe products.

The Green Harvest Meat company has been established in the area, which sells chicken meat and eggs produced in a safe manner.

Shahidul Islam, the company’s manager, said they source products from 60-70 farms that use safe meat and egg production methods. These products are supplied to the local market, as well as to the capital’s Unimart chain store.

Shahidul added that they have been supplying eggs and chicken meat to Unimart for about a year now.

Rasheduzzaman, who quit his corporate job to start an egg business, supplies around 10 truckloads of eggs from 16 different farms to Dhaka every month and the business is thriving with the network support of JAKAS.

Joypurhat has also created significant infrastructure for Sonali’s poultry farms, including over 50 hatcheries and 10 feed mills. The eggs are produced into approximately 10 million chickens each year, meeting a local demand of 6 million chickens and supplying surpluses to other regions. This growth is creating numerous employment opportunities in the area.

To promote safe and sustainable food production across the country, PKSF’s RMTP project currently supports 86,555 people in 12 districts.

Acting Managing Director of PKSF Mr. Fazlul Qader said: “Many people are now producing food through safe methods. We hope that everyone in the country will produce safe products. This will bring fundamental changes to the market. We expect a positive shift towards safe food. production, which will lead to the creation of a sustainable agricultural system.”

Dr Mohir Uddin, livestock specialist of Joypurhat district, said poultry farming has created employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people. Thanks to the support of new entrepreneurs, the county’s safe egg and meat production is gaining recognition from consumers across the country. By working together with farmers, the County is committed to building a sustainable and safe food production system that will benefit local communities for years to come.