The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Chicken meat production in eastern Bhutan is a business that majority desisted to undertake due to religious stigmas but a lone farmer rose to the occasion and started a farm.
It’s now been a few months and the farmer, Sonam Wangdi, is more than glad he did not ‘chicken out’ of the venture.
The farmer from Jang village under Gangzur gewog, Lhuentse managed to meet the demands for two dzongkhags just within in the early existence of his farm.
In a few more months the farm would be able to cater all the eastern dzongkhags after it starts to grow in size.
The poultry farm which was initiated on June 23 this year has potential to produce about 1800 birds with the average dressed meat weight of 1.6 kg. The products are sold out within Lhuentse and Monggar markets only.
The poultry industry under livestock sector is one of the fastest growing enterprises. The industry provides quality animal protein in the form of eggs and meat considering the fact that these two poultry products (Poultry meat and eggs) are least inflated food commodities.
To capture the benefits of globalization and establish an agro-enterprise calls for a competitive, market-oriented production and service sectors.
“Recent trends in growing demand of poultry products in the Bhutanese market provide excellent platform for growth of poultry sector,” Dzongkhag Livestock Officer, Norbu Tshering said. The income generation and food security are a critical concern today.
The import figure of Chicken meat in Lhuentse and Mongar Dzongkhags are more than 4500 kg per month.
The report maintained by the Dzongkhag Livestock officer stated that the primary purpose of initiating poultry farms is to substitute import of poultry meat in the district and also to create employment opportunities, support rural livelihood and generate income.
The enterprise would also serve as “model enterprise” which will stand on its own feet at later stages and thus serve as a “Demonstration Project”.
The core activity of the business is to produce ‘chicken meat’.
The farm was established with the support of Dzongkhag Livestock sector and assistance from NPDC, Sarpang for production equipment and marketing equipments by RAMCO, Mongar.
The 0.5 acres of land in Jabin under Gangzur geog was leased by the Royal Government of Bhutan. The farm is situated an area of 2200 sq ft and is managed by a manager and three laborers.
According to the Dzongkhag Livestock Officer, the farm located in a suitable topography is potential to grow in future.
The farm buys DOC from NPDC, Sarpang and concentrated feeds from Karma Group based at Phuntsholing.
The farm was supported by Dzongkhag Livestock sector as lead with assistance support provided by NPDC for production equipment and marketing equipments by RAMCO, Mongar.
