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Backyard poultry now a thing of the past

Durdana Ghias
Not so long ago, backyard poultry used to be a part of most city’ household
It was a familiar practice in the urban and semi-urban areas around Dhaka. Many had their own little farms that supplied their daily demand of eggs.
But nowadays the practice is almost extinct. Lack of open space and increasing price of poultry’ feed discourage backyard poultry' owners.
"1 used to rear poultry' birds in my backyard 10-15 years ago. But now 1 have given it up," said Fatema Ahmed, a housewife in her late 60s living in Malibagh Chowdhurypara, who used to have coops for chickens and ducks, pens for cows and goats and a kitchen garden in her backyard.
Fatema had around 100 chickens and 25 ducks. She used to rear them to meet her family needs. “The price of husk was less and it was easier to get. I had three people to look after my coops and pens,” she said.
“There were lots of open spaces around my house at that time. My chickens moved around; my ducks used to swim into the nearby Khilgaon Lake. Sometimes my ducks swam a long distance and got lost. Then I sent boys to find them out and they w’ere always found,” Fatema said.
Asked w’hy did she gave up poultry rearing, Fatema said after a good number of her chicks died and the price of eggs went down she stopped poultry rearing.
“I am too old to start it again. I asked my son but the present generation is not interested in this kind of household activities," she said.
“Besides, now all the open spaces are used up to construct buildings. And the lake is now filled with garbage. You can even
walk on it. So where will my ducks swim?" asked Fatema.
She said a couple of decades ago it was common among the housewives or girls or even male members of every household to rear poultry. Housewives used to treat the feathery creatures as family members.
“1 used to get around 30 eggs a day. I loved to rear the poultry birds. They were like my family members," Fatema added.
Sadia Rahman, a housewife, used to rear chickens at her house 15 years back. "I started poultry rearing as a small business venture. I used to keep eggs for home but most of those were for selling," said Sadia.
"At that time I could not maintain proper hygiene standards. I was at a loss when they suffered from avian diseases. Vet, vaccines and other services were not much available,” she added.
She pointed out another problem -- her neighbours used to complain a lot about the bad smell from her poultry farm.
Only about a decade ago poultry farms owners themselves used to encourage housewives to rear poultry in cages.
A large number of city dwellers who bought cages for 12 or 18 chickens have now abandoned the practice mostly because of price hike of chickens and feeds.
“We never bought eggs from
the market. 1 he practice kept the prices at reasonable level. But today the unscrupulous traders arc taking full advantage of less production and high demand in the city", lamented Rahima Begum, a resident of Maghbazar.
Mazharul Islam, senior manager (poultry) at Brae, said the increasing price of poultry feed and the decreasing price of eggs discouraged backyard poultry owners. "The shrinking gap between the cost and the return put off many layer farm owners especially those rearing local chickens."
He said the effect of missing backyard poultry is not palpable in the market since the consumption of eggs is quite high.
Dr MA Saleq, secretary general, World Poultry Science Association, said that poultry could thrive but it suffered setback at the growing stage due to lack of proper initiatives from the government and private sectors.
Lack of open space is another vital reason for the decreasing trend in urban backyard poultry, he said.
Previously the urban dwellings were much bigger and with lots of space in the surrounding so the environment was conducive to rear poultry.
"Ln the urban area one needs an open space or an isolated area to rear poultry. It is possible if one owns a house. But it is difficult in the present context since many people live in apartments," said Dr Saleq.
Vaccination and hygiene issues are some other reasons.
"People were unaware of the poultry hygiene issues. Because of this many of their chickens died and they got discouraged. It was also hard for many to call the vet in time and vaccinate the chickens regularly," he said.
"Besides, when the number grew they started receiving complaints from neighbours. This discouraged many," he added.