State Animal Resource Development dept to set up duck farm at Birbhum

Kolkata: In a big stride towards making Bengal self-reliant in the production of eggs, the state Animal Resource Development (ARD) department will set up a duck farm at Labhpur in Birbhum. "Our target is to produce five lakh ducklings in a year from this duck farm," state ARD minister Swapan Debnath said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has time and again prodded the ARD department to devise means for increasing the production of duck eggs in Bengal. "We are renovating a chicken farm at Boromoholla in Suri I Block in Birbhum to augment the production of chicken eggs," the minister said.

According to sources in ARD department, 2.5 crore eggs are required for daily consumption in the state and the government has to export 93 lakh eggs on daily basis from the southern states.

The ARD department has come with an Incentive Policy 2017 for the poultry farmers where the department is providing subsidy to the extent of Rs 80 lakh for people working towards augmenting egg production. "A person who will be producing 10,000 birds (chick or duck) will get an incentive upto 8 lakh," a senior official of ARD department said.

The minister said that his department is also providing provide attractive incentive in the power bill of the poultry breeders. It is learnt that the state Finance department has allocated Rs 205 crore for augmenting production on the basis of the policy.

In Bengal, 601.1 crore eggs are produced in a year among which duck eggs amounts to 52.2 crore. "We are confident as our incentive scheme that has already got the nod of the state Cabinet and will empower us to become self-reliant in egg production in the next few years," Debnath said.

The price of eggs has shot up in the southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Telengana that has resulted in a sharp increase in the export price. The price of eggs has shot up to Rs 7 in some markets.

The state government has made arrangements to ensure that all the 68 stalls of West Bengal Livestock Development Corporation have a reasonable supply of eggs so that they can sell at Rs 6 per piece. The six Sufal Bangla outlets in the city are also selling eggs at Rs 6 per piece.