Management Practices at Poultry Demonstration Centres for Boosting Backyard Poultry Farming System in Ramban District of Jammu & Kashmir, India: A Review

Abstract

The Backyard poultry farming is an age-old practice in India and plays an important role to reduce poverty among the most under-privileged sections of the Jammu & Kashmir, particularly in far flung areas of rural J&K, India. There is not any specific arrangement required for backyard poultry farming and is mostly popular in backward and resource-deprived areas of J&K and provides rural families with good source of income, healthy food sources in terms of meat and eggs. Backyard poultry farming improves the status of women in rural communities, creates jobs for rural residents, and closes the gap between supply and demand for chicken products, such as meat and eggs. The high mortality rate among chicks due to frequent disease outbreaks, lack of a framework, lower potential of Desi chickens, lack of scientific information, predation, hunger, climate change, and year-round fluctuations in feed supply and price are some of the major drawbacks of backyard poultry farming in J&K. This farming needs to be improved because it is the best way for J&K's marginal and small farmers to supplement their income with relatively little investment. Nonetheless, the J&K government has started 29 projects under the Holistic Agriculture growth Programme (HADP), of which P25 is only focused on the growth of poultry in J&K. Backyard poultry farming results in socio-economic development, nutritional and livelihood security, empowerment of women etc. among rural people. Birds are kept mostly on scavenging system, where they acquire their feeds through natural foraging, kitchen wastes etc. Rural poultry farming has been responsible to produce 40 per cent meat and 44 per cent egg requirement in J&K. Chicken eggs and meat are the only cheapest and best sources of protein, vitamin and minerals with high biological value for rural poor and marginal sections of people. The additional income earned from indigenous chicken farming has improved their socio- economic stability.