Md Minhajul Abedin from Tangail had started a small poultry farm in his village in 2007. He was inspired by other villagers who had also started businesses that promised large returns on small investments.
“It was profitable, for a while. But after 2010, we started facing acute operational problems. The prices of poultry feed and medicine increased, as did the price of one-day-old chickens,” Minhajul told the Dhaka Tribune.
“First, our chicken had several virus-borne diseases. We managed to recover from this issue but we faced losses every day due to the lack of support from the government and banks.”
“At last, I was compelled to close down my poultry farm in December 2016,” added the ill-fated poultry farmer, who now runs a grocery shop at his village market.
Like Minhajul, grassroots poultry farmers across the country have been forced to close down their farms due to multiple problems, posing a threat to an industry that once held great potential.
Admitting this, Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA) Secretary General Manjur Morshed Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “The small and mid-level entrepreneurs are fully deprived of most of the facilities they require.”
“As a result, the SME-oriented poultry farms are being closed down gradually. Five years back, about 1,50,000 SME-oriented poultry farms were active in the country whereas the number has fallen down to 60,000 recently.”
The farmers pointed out the high price of poultry feed and other necessary commodities, aggressiveness of foreign investors and middlemen, deficiency of vaccinations for poultry, lack of support from the government, and decreasing profit as major problems behind the downfall of poultry businesses across the country.
The BPIA also said the percentage of the new SME investment in this sector has not been up to the mark for the last couple of years. Besides, the previous SME farmers are investing in other business sectors while withdrawing investments from the poultry segment.
Meanwhile, the existing root-level poultry farmers, who started this business several years ago, cannot make enough profit from the sector at present.
Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rokkha Jatiya Parishad blamed the absence of the proper practice of regulations and monitoring in this sector as the main cause of the problem. They said the SME-oriented farmers are in unfair competition with foreign investors.
A ready-made garments employee AKM Saiful Islam, who was formerly engaged in a poultry business based in Chittagong, said that he was compelled to turn away from the sector after facing losses repeatedly.
“The small farmers are facing remarkable losses selling poultry chickens and eggs while the scenario was totally different few years back. Once, the unemployed youths, educated and illiterate alike had great interest in the low-investment poultry sector but now the sector is becoming unstable day by day.”
Another poultry farmer Alauddin from Noakhali, alleged that the prices of poultry feed, as well as poultry medicine have been increasing extremely rapidly for last few years while the prices of eggs and chickens have not increased at a mentionable rate. All of this adds to more losses for the poultry farmers.
What happened in Gazipur?
Poultry businessmen said most of the poultry farms were based in Gazipur from where almost half of the country’s poultry production once originated. But, production in Gazipur has decreased tremendously in the past few years. Now, only one-fourth of Bangladesh’s total poultry production comes from this district.
In Gazipur, more than 8,000 poultry farms were founded in 2007. Nearly 5,000 poultry farms are still being operated amid multiple problems. A number of farms are closing down due to recurring losses.
Khandker Mohammad Mohsin, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rokkha Jatiya Parishad said: “Production on the farms that are still in operation have declined due to increased production costs.”
Sohel Rana, a poultry farmer based in Gazipur, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have taken a loan from a bank with 12% interest, which is really too much. As I failed to make profit from the farm due to high production costs, I sold the farm to pay off the bank loan.”
“The poultry farm business was free of tax in the previous years. However, 10% taxation was added since the 2015-16 Fiscal Year; that contributed greatly to hiking up our production costs,” said Sohel’s cousin Mobasshwer, who is also a poultry farmer.
The Food and Agriculture Organization Consultant Shah Munir said: “The farmers are often in the hands of some middlemen. Direct linkage should be established between production and marketing.”
The poultry farmers, claiming that the production costs are increasing day by day, said about 68% of their total product cost was spent on poultry feed, 18.5% for purchasing chicks, 5% for medicine cost, 4% for labour cost, and the rest account for other costs.
Bangladesh Agricultural University Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Md Jashimuddin said: “Poultry Feed Act has no use in the practical field.”
Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC) President Moshiur Rahman said: “If the problems of SME poultry entrepreneurs can be solved, then our poultry industry will regain its ability to contribute to the national economy.”
“Besides, the government and the banks should be more amiable and concentrate on the root-level poultry farmers for the long term betterment of the industry.”
“We need to increase production to feed our growing population. But we should concentrate on quality rather than quantity. Safe poultry production is one of our major goals.”
