Entrepreneurship Development Through Diversified Poultry Farming and Hatchery Management
24 August 2024, New Delhi: Mr. Sabahat Ulla Khan, a gemologist by profession from Arambol, Pernem, North Goa. His passion for farming led him to establish AL Khan Goat & Poultry Farm in Arambol village of Pernem taluka. However, he encountered challenges such as high mortality, low productivity, improper knowledge about improved backyard poultry, their feeding requirements, vaccination, flock selection, and breeding of stock. Seeking solutions, he approached at ICAR- Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa, and visited the institute’s poultry unit to have first-hand information about scientific poultry farm management. Consequently, he planned to scale up his backyard poultry farming due to the high demand for eggs and meat.
Initially, Mr. Sabahat followed the scavenging method of rearing, resulting in worm infestation, disease incidence, and increased mortality. To address this, he attended a six-day training program on scientific poultry rearing at ICAR-CCARI, Goa which was conducted in collaboration with KVK, North Goa in the year 2022. He learned about scientific poultry management, quality chick production, economic feeding practices to save on feed costs, breeder flock management, disease prevention, and vaccination during this training. Additionally, he acquired improved poultry germplasms such as Srinidhi, Gramapriya, and Vanaraja from the institute poultry unit. He focused on hatchery management techniques for quick return producing healthy chicks. He also procured fertile hen and quail eggs from the institute hatchery unit and produced chicks in his hatchery.
With the institute’s interventions, the early chick mortality rate on his farm dropped dramatically from 25% to 5%. Additionally, his specialized feeding regimen led to increased body weight in the birds. Diversified poultry farming, including Japanese quails, ducks, turkeys, and guinea fowl, has become his primary livelihood. Mr. Khan also launched a hatchery business, successfully hatching and selling chicks, quails, and ducklings with a high hatchability rate. His quail-hatching operation has thrived, with over 50,000 quail chicks sold to date. This expansion boosted his farm income by approximately 30% due to the added revenue from the hatchery. Furthermore, dressing and retailing poultry meat contributed an additional 15% to his income compared to wholesaling live birds. Recognized within the Goan farming community for his healthy chicks and competitive pricing, Mr. Khan achieved a significant annual net income of Rs. 2,50,000 from egg and bird sales. This success has encouraged him to plan further expansion of his farm and business.
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