Sri Vijaya Puram, June 1: Duck Farming for income generation has been promoted by Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services and it has gained popularity among farmers of these Islands. As the tourism industry continues to flourish, duck offers the opportunity to diversify farmer’s income through culinary based ventures. To support the farmers, the Department has been supplying good quality ducklings of egg type and meat type ducks through duck farms situated in all parts of these Islands.
Good quality ducklings need replenishment of parent stock at regular intervals. Due to various reasons such as outbreak of Avian Influenza in Indian States & Covid outbreak, regular replacement of parent stock ducks was hampered leading to decrease in production of ducklings. There has been a constant demand for ducklings in all parts of the UT including Nicobar in recent years.
To address the issue and support the local farmers, the Department has made arrangements to replace the parent stock of both the varieties from Central Breeding Farm, Hesaraghatta. The first batch of parent stock ducklings is expected to be received by the end of June, 2025. After the onset of lay, 5000 ducklings of each variety would be produced weekly. As it takes a duration of about 20-24 weeks for the ducks to come to lay, the Department has made elaborate plans to procure commercial eggs of both varieties, which will be incubated at different hatcheries across the UT and ducklings would be made available. The first batch of 4000 numbers of duck eggs has recently been received at Central Hatchery Dollygunj.
The first Hatch out of chicks is expected to be obtained in the month of June that would be distributed to the farmers. With the procurement plan the Duck Development programme would gain momentum for the benefit of farmers in this Islands.