Backyard Poultry: A boon for the rural youths

Village Dharali is a heaven of its kind in Distt. Uttarkashi which entraps the serene of mind from the incessantly flowing devine river Ganges. It is situated at an altitude of 648 metres above the sea level, around 80 kms from Uttarkashi and 6 kms from Harsil.

The major problem that our villages are witnessing in the present times is the problem of migration of people specially youths to the cities in search of jobs. Breaking this trend, there is a man who strongly believes in creating opportunities amidst scarcities in the very place where his heart lies and roots belong to.

Hailing from the beautiful hamlet of Dharali, post Harsil, Mr. Sachendra Singh Panwar is an inspiring figure to many people who always cry and show their dismal over the grave issue of unemployment among the youth in hilly areas. The youth of hilly areas believe that it’s not beneficial to find any job opportunities in their native villages and thus they are migrating in a huge number in search of jobs which sometimes are not that earning.

But exceptions are always there and the exception that we are talking here is Mr Sachendra Singh Panwar, who is a B.Sc Biology degree holder and a person full of aspirations and desires driven with the fuel of diligence. He stood separate from the common mindset of the youth and decided not to leave his native place rather stayed back unlike other youths of his age and started thinking over the ways to earn his livelihood in the place he was born.

Proving right the saying “where there is a will there is a way” it was in the year 2018 when he showed interest to one of the ongoing schemes of the Animal Husbandry Department, Uttarakhand i.e National Livestock Mission –Innovative Poultry Productivity Project. He was supplied with 200 one month old (MOC) Low Input Technology kuroiler (Vanraja and CARI Devendra) birds from the government poultry farm through Saghan Kukkut Vikas Prayojana (IPDP),Gyansu Uttarkashi, an institution which works for the implementation of the poultry schemes of Animal Husbandry Department, Uttarakhand in district Uttarkashi.

Kuroiler birds are basically hybrid dual purpose, sturdy and disesase resistant birds. They are cross of either colored broiler males with Rhode Island females, or White Leghorn males crossed with female Rhode Island Reds.

Mr. Panwar owns an apple orchard and is also involved in horticultural activities. He decided to rear these birds in free range in his orchard where the birds could feed ad libitum on the insects, grasses and left over food and fruits from trees. Out of 200 kuroiler birds, 50 died in the process of acclimatizing the harsh winters and snow of Dharali. Out of remaining 150 birds, 100 were female and 50 were male birds.

The female birds fetched him around 700 eggs which are light brown to dark brown in color and were sold @ Rs 10/ egg. Eggs were also consumed by his own family. The kuroiler layers were not reared for their entire laying cycle and were sold in between for meat in the local market and nearby areas. The male birds were sold on attaining a body weight of around 2.5 kgs and at this weight these birds fetched him Rs 1000-Rs 1700/bird and those which were sold at 1kg b.wt. brought him an income of Rs 500-Rs 700/bird. He fed them wheat, rice, barley, insects and vegetables growing in his orchard. The expenditure incurred on rearing these birds was Rs 20,000 and the net profit earned is Rs 50000 excluding other miscellaneous expenses.

Mr. Panwar says that rearing kuroiler birds in free range specially in his apple orchard was a very good experience as the excreta/droppings of the kuroiler birds proved to be a very beneficial natural fertilizer for his crops and consequently has brought productive and qualitative changes in the horticulture related activities resulting in vivid monetary benefits.

In the present scenario backyard poultry is proving to be a boon to the people of hilly areas. Not only it has uplifted the nutritional status of the families but it has also emerged as a potential source of income generation for the marginal and poor farmers.