There is no approach road to Raju Rathwas house at Shivrajpur village in Panchmahals Halol taluka. But this small tribal farmer managed to bring in five pairs of emus at his farm land four months ago,hoping for good return on investment in months to come. Unlike chicken,emus do not get disease and one can sell the birds eggs,feathers,meat and fat. So,I will start getting money within a year when they start laying eggs, Rathwa said. Rathwa bought five pairs of emus for Rs 28,000 per pair on loan,with an agreement with the Vadodara farm to sell back eggs at the rate of Rs 800 per egg. The farm will incubate the eggs and increase emu population for future business. He wants to buy more pairs but getting loan sanctioned for the same is difficult,he said. For the nascent emu rearing industry in Gujarat,the business model sounds lucrative for smaller farmers in villages in Vadodara,Panchmahals,Bharuch,Kheda and Anand districts where most of the 200-odd emu farms are located. This is what explains interest among small farmers for the Australian bird - at least half of farms in Gujarat belongs to small farmers who rear five-to-ten pairs,industry sources say. But behind their growing interest lurks shadow cast by two big frauds in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu this year where emu farms promised higher return on investment but eventually defaulted. The latest one came to light when a Tamil Nadu farm promised a return of Rs 3.3 lakh within two years on an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh but defaulted. A similar scam surfaced last year when the owner of the Indian Emu Farm Private Limited at Nasik did not pay for eggs to the farmers,leaving them clueless as to what to do with the birds. Several farmers in Gujarat are purchasing emus depending on similar buy-back agreements that Rathwa entered into,but most such agreements are not foolproof,in the sense that they are not legally bound,industry sources said. Farmers do not even have incubation facilities of their own,which make them totally dependent on the larger farms to sell their products,they said. What if the farm refuses to purchase eggs? asked Rushik Zinzuwadia,who runs RKs Emu Farm and Research Centre,which provides consultancy service to emu farmers. The farmers have land to rear emus,but they will have to invest in feeding these birds for 18-20 months before they start laying eggs. At the end of it,all small farmers will realise they have made little money on their investment, Zinzuwadia said. A farm in Anand offers monthly payback scheme on emu purchase wherein a farmer gets a sure return of Rs 1,000 per month on a purchase of five emu pairs for Rs 40,000. Another farm in Vadodara promises to buy eggs at Rs 1,200 per egg just to attract investment. Such model is flawed and risky,especially for smaller farmers,who should not do business as an individual but form a society, Zinzuwadia said. The emu industry is highly reorganised and government is not taking much interest in regulating the business. There are bogus people in all fields,and this field is no exception, said B A Prajapati,who owns Royal Emu Farm in Vadodara. But despite some cases of frauds,the future of the industry is bright and is likely to grow up to Rs 20,000 crore business in the next 3-4 years, he added.
