Many unemployed youths of Meherpur are starting quail farms to get rid of unemployment with little investment. These farms can be easily made in houses. They are also benefiting as demand for quail birds and eggs are high. Many family of the village earn their livelihood by farming these quail birds.
According to the Animal Resources Office, there are 35 quail farms in the district. Where farmers keep about 20,000 birds.
Abu Taher in the stadium area of Meherpur city used to run a rice Mill. But in the face of continuous losses, the mill get closed in 2017. Later he found out about quail on YouTube. In 2018, he collected 100 quail from Bogura.
After cleaning a room in the house, he started keeping quails there. The next year, it increased to two thousand. That same year, the number of birds on his farm increased to three and a half thousand. He get two thousand eggs every day from the farm. He sells each egg for 2 taka. With that, his daily income is one and a half thousand Tk after all expenses.
Nasir Uddin, the owner of quail Farm in Garadob village of Gangni upazila, said he was also a tractor driver a few years back. While cultivating land in Bogura district, he got acquainted with a quail farm. From there he collected 200 quails and built a farm. Now, besides his own district, many buyers comes from Kushtia, Jhenaidah and Chuadanga to buy birds from him. He bought birds from a hatchery in Bogura and supplied them to the buyers.
It has a profit of one Tk per bird. He also now has 1,400 birds on his farm. After a few weeks it will increase to three thousand. In addition to quail eggs, many people buy quail for meat from his farm.
Hirak, a quail farmer of Dafarpur village in Sadar upazila said that quail farming is relatively easy as they are more immune from diseases unlike chickens and ducks. The place where the quails live should be surrounded so that no outside air can enter inside. Farmers demanding a separate market for quail in the area so that a promising sector can emerge.
Saidur Rahman, an agronomist and livestock resource officer said, “ In order to eradicate the disease, the farmers have to vaccinate the birds between October and November before winter.
The bird house should also be fenced off during the winter. And as soon as the sun rises, it has to be removed. At this time, he advised to feed more protein foods to the birds.”