TULSIPUR: Egg production in Dang district has gradually recovered, reaching more than 2,500 cartons a day following efforts by poultry farmers to organise themselves and improve market access.
Daily production in the district, which once stood at 5,000 to 6,000 cartons, had dropped to around 1,000 cartons due to inadequate marketing arrangements. However, production has started increasing again after farmers came together and took collective initiatives to market their products.
Ishwor Prakash Shrestha, president of the Nepal Layer Poultry Farmers Association, said egg production had been steadily increasing as farmers became more organised and improved their marketing practices.
“Previously, farmers were not organised and had to sell their products at low prices, forcing them to incur losses for a long time. Now that we have come together, production is gradually increasing,” he said.
According to Shrestha, each carton contains 210 eggs. The number of layer chickens in the district has now exceeded 900,000. According to Rabindra Bikram KC, secretary of the association, more than 150 poultry farmers are affiliated with the organisation, with over 45 new farmers joining every year.
Shrestha said around 20 percent of the eggs produced in Dang, equivalent to approximately 500 cartons daily, are consumed within the district. The remaining 80 percent, or around 2,000 cartons, are supplied to markets outside the district.
To streamline the marketing process, the Nepal Layer Poultry Farmers Association, in collaboration with Nepal Egg Trading Pvt. Ltd., has established an egg collection and distribution depot in Tulsipur. Eggs that cannot be consumed locally are collected and supplied to markets in other districts through the depot.
Although the production cost of an egg stands at Rs. 19.12, farmers are often compelled to sell their products at lower prices, said Binod Pokharel, central chairman of the association.
He said the depot was established to facilitate a single-window marketing system and ensure that surplus eggs from Dang could be distributed to different markets across the country.
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