The year is proving to be bad for the poultry business. From birds dying to high feed prices to low egg prices, poultry farmers have had all misfortunes one after another. And now to add to their misery, the monsoon is stopping them from marketing their product. In Khothakpa in Pema Gatshel, a mega poultry farm is waiting for the weather to improve. The farm has cartons of eggs to market but the continuous rainfall has caused numerous roadblocks.
Dorji from Khothakpa in Shumar Gewog is the first person to establish a poultry farm in the gewog more than a decade ago. Seeing some prospects, he has expanded his farm gradually. Today he has 14,000 hens. But like every monsoon, he is confronted with the market issue due to frequent roadblocks.
According to him, the road blocked in most of the places cut him off from marketing the eggs. He has more than 150 cartons of eggs in the store today. He said, if the downpour continues for another week, the eggs would go to waste before reaching the market.
“If the weather fails to improve, I will have to bear a loss of about Nu 250,000. Again I will be collecting this many eggs within a week when I am already worried about this stock.”
He feeds 14 to 18 bags of feed every day. He is worried that his birds might die if he cannot bring in more before the present stock finish. For now the gewog administration has cleared the blockages which has helped him to bring in some feeds. However, the uncertainty of the weather looms large. Moreover, he is worried about repaying his loans if his birds die.
Amid the hungry clucking birds and thousands of eggs that may not see the market at all, Dorji can only pray for the weather to improve.
Thinley Dorji, Pema Gatshel
Edited by Sonam
