Jhenidah
Youth prospers from pigeon rearing
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Mehdi Hasan of Jhenidah now owns a house in the town, thanks to commercial rearing of fancy pigeons.
Once a jobless youth, Hasan brought home a pair of king variety of pigeons from Katabon pet market in Dhaka four years ago. The female pigeon laid eggs after a short while. Two chicks were born a few days later, which fetched Hasan some Tk 6,000, his maiden personal income.
He never looked back and continued to collect varieties of fancy pigeons from different places of the country and developed his own Mehdi Pigeon Farm at the backyard of his house.Hasan said he has now at least 50 varieties of pigeons, including some costly ones like Pakistani Blue Seraji, Black King, Red King, Yellow King, White King, Sutting, Shallow, Nana Parvin, Lion and High Pillar. Australian King, Bombay King, Loton and local Variety Sowachandan are most popular.
He said he had collected the varieties from Dhaka, Pabna, Meherpur, Natore, Barishal and some other districts to enrich the farm.
Each pair of Bombay, Loton and Swachandan and some other local varieties is sold at Tk 2,000, Australian King at Tk 6,000, Modela, Blue King, Magpie, and Awl Tk 10,000, Yellow Bokhra Tk 42,000 and Beauty Hummer Taka 6,000.
A pair of foreign pigeon helps earn a net profit of Tk 30,000 a year and local varieties Tk 5,000. Sabbir Hossain, a neighbor, said many people have started rearing the pigeon in the locality.
District Livestock Officer in Jhenaidah Kanailal Shwarnakar said he was impressed by the success of Hasan in Jhenidah. The younger generation can also take such initiative for self-employment, he said.
