DRDA to set up fowl unit in every mandal

• Country fowls can be fed with local available feeds and are resistant to major infections
• A unit can be set up with Rs 2 lakh of which Rs 1 lakh is subsidy and the other Rs 1 lakh is the bank loan 

Anantapur: District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has embarked on a scheme to set up one model country fowl unit for every mandal in the district. The district has 63 mandals and will get 63 units. 

Presently, 10 country fowl units have been sanctioned. Each unit would have 1,000 fowls with something like 5 cocks for every 50 hens or so, proportionately. 

Every unit would be a mother unit which will produce and supply for backyard poultries. 

Aparanjamma is earning a handsome amount through the poultry set up in the backyard of her household last year with 45 chicks in Kalyandurgam mandal. About 40 hens and 5 cocks make a unit of the backyard poultry.

The department of Animal Husbandry too is also promoting backyard poultries and are supplying Rainbow Roster, an improvised variety of country fowls to the beneficiaries. 

DRDA Project Director P Venkateshwarlu told The Hans India that each mother unit costs Rs 2 lakh. Rs 1 lakh is the subsidy and the remaining Rs 1 lakh is the bank loan. 

The Rs 2 lakh is for the purchasing of country fowls and for construction of the shed for the farm. A buy back arrangement has been arranged by the DRDA with corporate firms, who would buy back the chicks 28 days after hatching them by the beneficiaries. 

The birds attain maturity from 22nd week after hatching. Females attain a body weight of about 3 kg and the males about 4 kg. They also lay about 100 to 125 eggs a year. No special care is required to grow them. 
They can be raised as free roaming birds and can be fed with local available feeds. Being good scavengers, they feed on a variety of insects and green foliage. 

They can also be fed on farm and kitchen wastes. The birds are resistant to major infections. 

A pair of country fowls fetches anywhere between Rs 400 to Rs 500 depending on its weight. Each hen lays 160-180 eggs per year.