With a proud smile, Kabul Singh glances across at the 28 powdery-white ‘‘American kukads’’ nibbling at the lush green grass on his one-kanal plot in this Ropar village. ‘‘This is a completely new project and I am glad that I took it up as a challenge,’’ says the 65-year-old farmer. Kabul Singh is part of a silent revolution that’s slowly taking shape in rural Punjab: turkey farming. ‘‘Today it feels great to act as a motivator for others. The rewards are tremendous. The only thing is that not many people are aware that something like this is happening right in their backyard,’’ says Singh. In fact, the tremendous potential for turkey farming in Punjab has also got officials at the state’s Animal Husbandry Department quite excited. ‘‘We are the only state in the region to start turkey farming. Turkey rearing, a back-yard venture, is a very good initiative for rural development. We have already supplied close to 3,200 birds to farmers in different districts of the state and would be supplying about 400-500 more by the end of this month,’’ says Dr Amarjit Singh, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Department. What began as a pilot project in November 2003 at the government poultry farm in Patiala is today gaining popularity across the state—Fatehgarh Sahib, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Faridkot, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ropar. ‘‘We hit upon the idea of turkey farming, as there are many plus points both for farmers as well as consumers. We wanted to diversify from traditional poultry farming and open up territories that have not been explored so far for our farmers,’’ says Baljit Singh Sidhu, Director, Animal Husbandry Department. ‘‘In the first phase of the project, we have been supplying birds to the farmers. The next step would be procuring eggs and finally set up our own breeding plant in Patiala. The market response is very good. We have decided to set up our own breeding unit as we are unable to cope up with the growing demand,’’ says Sidhu. Turkey expert Dr Sameer Majumdar, associated with the Central Avian Research Institute (CARI) in Bareilly, dubs the project as an ‘‘alternate to broiler’’. ‘‘Turkey should top the preference list of health freaks as it has very low fat and cholesterol content and very high protein. Moreover, we can also promote it as a broiler because an eight to 10-week-old turkey, weighing about 2.5 kg is ready for consumption,’’ Dr Majumdar told The Indian Express over phone from Bareilly. The one loose end that needs to be shored up, says Sidhu, is the marketing front. ‘‘We are extremely concerned about the marketing aspect as we want our poor farmers to reap the harvest. We have already told all prominent restaurants and hotels in Chandigarh and other cities about the places where turkey is available,’’ says Sidhu. Poultry inspector Ranjit Singh, who conducted 15-day classes for farmers before handing over the birds, says turkeys are ‘‘much more hardy when compared to poultry and are much less prone to diseases’’. The returns are rewarding too, he says. ‘‘They are very high with minimum investment, which makes it very appealing to the poor farmers. Only four feet space is required for each bird and a five-month turkey weighs around 5.5 kg. Each kilo sells at above Rs 250 in the open market,’’ says Dr Amarjit Singh of the Animal Husbandry Department. But he has a word of caution too. ‘‘They need to be protected from the cold. But if vaccinations are done for fowl pox and ranikhet, then there’s no cause for worry. We are carrying out vaccination of the fowls,’’ says Dr Singh. As for Kabul Singh, the turkey farmer, it’s virtually been a case of love at first sight. ‘‘Whenever we pick up a bird, the entire flock comes together. They have so much of unity.’’
