Feature: Leading Chinese feed manufacturer beneficial to Bangladesh poultry farmers

DHAKA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Fear and uncertainty because of common diseases have long been part of most of the poultry farmers in Gazipur on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

About one-fourth of Bangladesh's total poultry production comes from Gazipur where farmers are now relieved of tensions in dealing with common diseases as a leading Chinese feed producer ensures supplies of quality feeds, cutting-edge technologies, as well as timely disease and management information.

Mostafizur Rahman is such a poultry farmer who runs his own farm in Gazipur.

"The chicken shed you see here houses 12,000 chickens, and on the other side there are more such sheds. I've a total of about 40,000 chickens on this farm," Rahman told Xinhua recently as workers were seen feeding chickens with feeds from one of China's largest feed manufacturers New Hope.

Rahman's farm has witnessed an impressive growth in the past decade since when he started feeding quality New Hope feeds and receiving disease management information.

"I have fed this feeds to my own chickens and also sell some outside," said Rahman, also a dealer of New Hope.

"I've benefited from doing business with this company for a long time. Their products are of good quality. I've improved day by day in this poultry farm business, "said Rahman, adding that he has almost 200 tons of New Hope feed product sales per month.

New Hope, which started production at its newly built feed mill in Gazipur in 2006, is now one of the largest poultry feed producers with about 7 percent Bangladesh market share.

Farmers in Gazipur said New Hope helps them get quality feeds at a competitive price. They said poultry farming comes as a trigger for growth of rural economy and a fortune changer for village people.

Not merely families are taking it as a boon, but many educated youths are taking poultry rearing as a vocation to become small entrepreneurs.

"From New Hope we've learned a lot about modern farming with the help of their service team in the field," another farmer Rashed Kabir said.

He said many are motivated to engage in poultry farming because of the supports New Hope offers apart from providing quality feeds, which are cheaper compared to other companies.

Rabeya Sultana Soma is a veterinarian. She works at a New Hope-run veterinary lab which is the first in the private sector to diagnose poultry diseases in Bangladesh.

"We collect samples from the farmers, then we diagnose the disease through various tests," she said, adding that because of the establishment of this lab, the marginal farmers in this area are getting services from them.

"They know how the disease is happening and how prevalent it is so that they can treat it at the right time to increase their productivity," said the veterinarian.

He Quanshui, the regional president for New Hope, said currently in Bangladesh, New Hope's production capacity of feed is 400,000 metric tons per year and 40 million chicks per year.

Besides, under the service and training of New Hope, local farmers are becoming experts in breeding field through the company's high-quality veterinary pharmaceutical products and management technology.

According to He, New Hope also actively takes social responsibility and make contributions to society. They are cooperating with the Asian Development Bank in training local female farmers, aiming to train 7,200 female farmers and 2,415 of them have now learned skills in poultry farming.

"I believe that Chinese companies like New Hope can bring a better life to the people of Bangladesh, with their decades of management experience and thousands of employees," said He.