Lhakpa Quendren

Tsirang—The dzongkhag’s livestock sector in the 13th Plan will focus on supporting large-scale commercial farms.

“We will strengthen marketing linkages to maintain market stability,” says Tsirang’s deputy chief livestock officer.

This is because small-time farming is not giving returns.

In 2023, Hem Kumar Pokwal from Tsholingkhar, Tsirang, started a poultry business, convinced of its potential. However, his ambitious dream was short-lived.

The poultry farm, located just off the Wangdue-Tsirang highway, now sits empty and overgrown with bushes. All the birds died from disease in April last year. What began as a thriving business now stands as a stark reminder of lost opportunities.

Hem Kumar’s farm, measuring 60 metres by 11.5 metres with a capacity for 1,000 birds, initially stocked 600 layer birds purchased from a local pullet-rearing farm in Tsirang. The only batch of egg production earned him Nu 11,000 in a week.

“Birds started dying a week after they began laying eggs, and the medication was ineffective in preventing the disease,” says Hem Kumar Pokwal, adding that livestock officials, following their investigation, informed him that the birds were of poor quality.

Unable to secure a bank loan, Hem Kumar spent Nu 150,000 to establish the farm. He now regrets investing his entire savings of Nu 450,000 on feed for pullet rearing, leaving him financially unstable.

Despite this setback, Hem Kumar remains determined to pursue his dreams. With no other options to resume operations, he has put his one-acre dry land up for sale on social media. He owns a total of two acres and 45 decimals of land.

This incident is not isolated. While the Tsirang livestock sector lacks data on inactive farms, Tsholingkhar Gewog alone has about six abandoned farms belonging to young farmers. Another inactive farm, above the highway, was abandoned by 55-year-old Narayan Kumar Chettri.

Narayan Kumar’s farm, which could accommodate 500 birds, now houses only 22 local birds after 200 layer birds died and the remaining 100 were sold. “I have no plans to resume operations. We fear running into losses, although poultry farms are lucrative businesses,” says Narayan Kumar.

Gewog officials attribute the inability to address these issues to a lack of clear terms and conditions between the support provider and the recipients. The poultry farms were established with government subsidies, including cement and Corrugated Galvanised Iron (CGI) sheets.

Gyem Tshering, noted that such incidents often involve young farmers who view farming as a temporary alternative.

“Support is given to the youth, but they are opportunistic and tend to abandon their farms when they find better opportunities,” he said, adding that even drawing up an agreement with them would not solve the issue.

These small farms, he said, often rushed to start operations when egg prices are high but became inactive when prices drop.