Bagmati provincial government has set up a compensation fund worth Rs50 million for poultry farmers. The fund will compensate the farmers for the loss caused by poultry diseases.

The province produces the highest quantity of chicken meat and eggs in the country, according to the data from Nepal Rastra Bank. Chitwan, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Sindhuli and Dhading districts contribute the most to the province’s poultry production.

“Bagmati Province is the capital of poultry farming in the country,” said Sharan Kumar Pandey, secretary at the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the province. “That’s why the fund is set up for the benefit of poultry farmers and traders.”

“Poultry farmers will also be categorised on the basis of their poultry production and will be issued identity cards which will help in the allocation of compensation as well as management of the market,” said Pandey.

The traders have welcomed the decision.

Raju Adhikari, vice president of Makwanpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the government has worked for the betterment of traders.

While the province produces around 163,939 tonnes of meat annually, around 113,432 tonnes of chicken and duck meat was produced in the last fiscal year that ended mid-July.

According to the ministry, the egg production figure in the province stands at around 899 million per year.

Traders, however, are worried by the decline in the number of poultry farmers in recent years.

“Diseases such as bird flu have caused a huge financial loss,” said Adhikari, a poultry trader. “Now the government, traders and insurance companies need to reach an agreement regarding the compensation for the survival of this sector.”

Industry insiders say there is a need to set a standard for commercial poultry farming in the country.

“We are self-reliant in poultry products,” said Adhikari. “A mechanism must be developed to deliver the facilities provided by the state to the farmers.”

The provincial government has also established the Poultry Development Board.

“The government has formed the Bagmati Province Poultry Development Board and moved forward the process to bring it into operation,” said Basundhara Humagain, former agriculture and livestock development minister of the province. “The provincial government has also proposed the Province Agriculture Development Ordinance 2022 which is in the process of authentication.”