For the poultry farmers of Shariatpur, the Padma Bridge that opened on June 25 is a dream bigger than 6.15km. They will no longer be divided and ruled by a course-shifting and often treacherous river. Even though the district is not too far from Dhaka, the Padma River has been a major geographical divide for its poultry farmers. The Padma Bride has opened up markets of Dhaka and other parts of the country to farmers and producers of Shariatpur, bound by Munshiganj on the north, Barishal on the south, Chandpur on the east, and Madaripur on the west. As the bridge is expected to bring regional agriculture and small businesses to the mainstream supply chain, Shariatpur's traders of perishable goods and products such as vegetables, fish and poultry are hoping to benefit from the shorter travel time and better prices. Shariatpur poultry farmer Hossain Ali will no longer have to worry if his truckloads catch up with the ferry and cross the Padma on time to reach Dhaka and other parts of the country. Halima Banu of the district will also get fair prices for her products. "In Shariatpur, 32,400 metric tonnes of chicken meat and 11.5 crore eggs are annually produced in 1,478 poultry farms. Around 6,000 people are involved in the profession," according to the district livestock office. Poultry traders of Shariatpur say they send truckloads of products to Dhaka and other major cities. They load their chickens and eggs on trucks in the evening. The trucks often could not reach Dhaka the next morning due to tailbacks at the ferry terminal. This would affect the quality of chickens and eggs. So, the Shariatpur poultry traders were reluctant to send chickens and eggs to Dhaka. The traders now hope that the new bridge would enable them to transport chicken and egg to the Dhaka market quickly, adding that fresh products would fetch them more profit. Poultry farmer Abul Kalam Azad of Shariatpur's Naria said: "We faced difficulties in transporting poultry products to Dhaka. Many live poultry and Sonali chickens died at ferry ghat due to traffic congestion." "The opening of the Padma Bridge will bring us closer to the Dhaka-based markets. Low-cost transport and lucrative rates in Dhaka markets mean more profit to us." Read: Grass-route level poultry farmers seeks government’s interference to stop commercial sale of ready broilers, layers by hatchery owners

Grass-route level poultry farm operators have sought the government’s interference to stop commercial sale of ready broiler and layer chicken by hatchery owners. They said that several hundred thousand small poultry farmers who mainly operate their business at grass-route level, cannot sustain because of the commercial selling of ready broiler and layer chicken by the big poultry owners. They also placed 8-point demands to resolve their prevailing crisis in business from a discussion meeting at the National Press Club on Sunday. Kazi Mostafa Kamal, secretary general of the Bangladesh Grass-Route Level Poultry Farmers Unity Council, placed the demands at a discussion meeting titled: ``Miseries of Grass-Route Level Poultry Farmers and Way Out”.  The function, with the organisation’s president Mizan Bashar in the chair, was also addressed by Trustee of the Gana Sastha Kendro Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, Bangladesh Kalayan Party Chairman Maj (Gen (retd) Muhammad Ibrahim and journalist Mostafa Kamal Majumder.   Read: Provide emergency banking services in flood-hit areas: BB The 8-point demands of the Bangladesh Grass-Route Level Poultry Farmers Unity Council include ensuring proper monitoring of small chicks by the Department Livestock Services, billing of electricity consumption at industrial rate, fixing the price of small chicks at Tk 30-32 as per the government’s notified order of 14th March 2010. The other demands are free-supply of medicine and vaccines to the farmers to prevent the chickens from different diseases, providing soft and collateral-free loans to small-scale poultry farmers bringing them under a cooperative, and building shops at specific places in bazaars at every upazila to facilitate selling of the products by small farmers. Kazi Kamal alleged that the small-scale farmers at grass-route level have been experiencing an anarchy-like situation for the last 12 years as they have to buy at Tk 90-100 per small chick from a few big hatchery operators. The hatchery operators do not abide by the government’s order to sell the chicks at Tk 30-32, he added, saying that the price hike of poultry feeds also put them into big trouble. “As a result, many small-scale poultry farmers left the business incurring huge financial loss,” he said. Read: Air Astra prepares for IOSA ahead of commercial launch Kazi Kamal said the big hatcheries are doing monopoly business in selling small chicks at their arbitrary rates violating the government’s order. Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury urged the government to protect the small-scale poultry operators for the sake of the interest of the country.  

Poultry growers have placed 11 demands including access to easy and soft loans for the grassroot level poultry farmers through stimulus package, and checking the illogical price hike of poultry feeds and chicks. Bangladesh Poultry Industry Forum (BPIF) placed the demands at a discussion meeting, organised by Bangladesh SME Forum, at Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) Auditorium in the city on Saturday. With President of both Bangladesh SME Form and Bangladesh Poultry Industry Forum M Mamun in the chair, the event was addressed by former additional secretary Dr Sheikh Rezaul Islam, Dhaka University teacher Dr Latiful Bari, ERF general secretary MM Rashidul Islam, Borhanuddin, Abdur Rahim, Lotus Parvez, Manik Sheikh, Sujan Sarker, Tahmid Hasan and Masuma Khatun. The BPIF leaders said the poultry industry has been experiencing a severe crisis due to recent increase in the price of its raw materials including feeds and chicks. Read: Govt forming policy to safeguard poultry, dairy industries “A strong syndicate of unscrupulous business has been responsible for the recent crisis and the government should find them out to punish them,” said M Mamun. The BPIF leaders alleged that although the poultry products are selling at higher prices in the local market, the actual farmers at the grass root levels are not getting the benefit of it. Rather, a middle group is being benefited from the increased price of the products, they observed. They also said that the industry owners are not receiving due financial support from the government although a stimulus package was announced for the industrial sector. Read: Thakurgaon poultry farmers brace for huge loss Many poultry owners had to shut down their industries facing a huge loss in the business during the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The farmers are now switching to other businesses from this losing concern, they observed. They also demanded formulating a pro-industrial policy to support the poultry industry.