Poultry farming with mango cultivation means continuous earning
Mango based poultry farming is more profitable in less cost
Mango based poultry farming technology was introduced under the Farmer First project. Today many farmers of Malihabad are earning good income for 12 months of the year by adopting this technique of poultry farming along with mango cultivation.
Farmers of Malihabad region of Uttar Pradesh are doing mango cultivation and poultry farming together. The Malihabad region of Uttar Pradesh is famous for its Dussehri mangoes, but in Malihabad, which has an area of 28 thousand hectares, due to climate change, farmers have not been able to get much benefit for last some time. Also, with the changing times, increasing cost of production of mangoes and indiscriminate use of pesticides have limited the income of small and marginal farmers.
Mango business is for three to four months in a year. During the rest of the year, farmers have no work. In the absence of information, farmers are unable to adopt other sources of income. In view of this, the scientists of Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (CISH), Lucknow under the Farmer First Project of the Central Government took steps in this direction with the aim of increasing income of the farmers.
Mango based poultry training laid the foundation
In order to ensure that the farmers get more income from their produce, farmers were trained to adopt mango based poultry farming i.e. with mango farming. This is the foundation, as a result of which many farmers of Malihabad area are earning income by doing poultry farming for 12 months of an year. Further in this article you will know how farmers can increase their income by doing poultry farming along with mango cultivation.
Started under Farmer First Project
Dr. Manish Mishra, Principal Scientist of the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow, told in a special conversation with Kisan of India that in 2017 the Farmer First project was run at the national level with the aim of doubling the income of farmers. The Farmer First project is underway in 52 locations across the country. One of these areas is also Malihabad. This project was brought in Malihabad because it is a fruit producing area. The Dussehri mango here is famous all over the world. In 2017, the Farmer First project was started as an experiment in three villages of Malihabad.
Dr. Manish Mishra further informed that in collaboration with the Central Bird Research Institute (CARI), Bareilly, the suitable breeds of chickens, suited for mango cultivation in the villages of Malihabad, were brought from CARI. Many indigenous breed chickens like Kadaknath, Carey Nirbhik, Carey Debendra were given to mango horticulture farmers and given full training regarding their maintenance.
Training given to small farmers in Farmer First Project
About 2 thousand farmers of these three villages were given information about the advanced techniques of horticulture. One of these techniques is mango based poultry farming. Every detail of this was explained to the farmers. Initially, 10 farmers adopted mango based poultry farming. Many farmers were skeptical about this technique as it was new to them.
Information was given among the farmers about rearing indigenous varieties of poultry like Nirbhik, Kadaknath, Shyama and Devendra. Their nutritional demand was met with very cheap available resources. Mango pests and small amounts of grains were given to the chickens.
Chickens eat insects, so no damage to the crop
Chickens are also used as pest control in mango based poultry farming. These chickens eat insects eggs, maggots, pupae hidden in the soil under the mango tree. In this way, the cost of nutrition of these chickens is reduced by 70 to 80 percent. The number of gujiya, stem borer and web insect also reduces in mango based poultry farming. These chickens get nutrition by eating these insects, as well as protect the mango trees from damage.
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Low Cost, High Profit
Farmers of the area say that earlier, where the cost of spraying in the orchard for the maintenance of the produce was 15 to 16 thousand rupees per acre, now it has decreased to three to four thousand rupees. Overall, the chickens give a nice atmosphere to the mango orchard. During the day these chickens are released to graze in the orchards and at night they are again locked in dens. About 300 chickens require a den of 8 feet high, 15 feet wide and 20 feet long. It costs 8 to 10 thousand to prepare this dada.
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Earning income throughout the year
250 chicks can be reared in one acre at a time. These chicks gain weight in 3 to 4 motnhs. Then the farmers sell them. After the chicken is ready, it is sold for 1000 to 1200 rupees. Farmers say that poultry farming with mangoes is like an ATM for them. Through mango based poultry farming techniques, farmers get income from eggs, chickens and mango fruits throughout the year.
Income from 15 thousand rupees to 1.5 lakh
Seeing the benefits of mango based poultry farming, now many farmers have joined it. Earlier, the income from the orchard used to be 15 to 20 thousand rupees per acre, but since the farmers have also started poultry farming, the production of mangoes, eggs and chickens together earn about 1.5 lakh rupees.
At the same time, encouraged by these efforts, some farmers are also breeding indigenous breeds of chicken. Dr. Manish Mishra told that the farmers have formed a self-help group, whose name is Sahbhagita (participation). Farmers cannot bring chickens from Bareilly again and again, so farmers have set up two hatcheries of 3-3 thousand eggs in the area with their own money. Indigenous breeds of chickens provided by CARI are produced in these hatcheries. Now these farmers have become master trainers and are also training other farmers of their area.
The scientists of the institute solve the problem of farmers
Dr. Manish Mishra further told that the transgender section of the society is also associated with poultry farming. She is also earning a good income by doing poultry farming leaving her profession. On the other hand, chickens do not face any major disease risk in mango based poultry farming. If there is any problem in poultry farming, then the farmers of the area have been connected to the WhatsApp group ‘Farmers First Lucknow’ group. In this group, many scientists of the institute and the director himself are associated, who get to know the problems of the farmers and solve them.
Contact us: If farmers want to share information or experiences related to farming with us, then they can do this by calling us on the phone number 9599273766 or by writing an email to kisanofindia.mail@gmail.com or by sending your recording. Through Kisan of India, we will convey your message to the people, because we believe that if the farmers are advanced then the country is happy.