440 to benefit from backyard poultry scheme in Tirunelveli

As many as 440 beneficiaries have been identified from various parts of Tirunelveli district under backyard poultry scheme.

The programme was aimed at providing livelihood support to generate income for people below poverty line, according to Joint Director of Animal Husbandry C. Gengaraj.

Four-week-old chicks would be provided to every beneficiary under the scheme at free of cost. Priority was given to people residing near forest area, where poultry birds could get access to feed, naturally.

In three phases

Every beneficiary would get 45 chicks in three phases. Initially, twenty chicks would be given and in the next phase, fifteen more chicks would be provided after a period of six weeks. Finally, ten chicks would be offered. Besides, providing shed to accommodate such chicks, the beneficiaries would also be exposed to required training to raise the poultry birds with sufficient nutritive value, Dr. Gengaraj told The Hindu on Saturday.

The poultry bird species – ‘Vanaraja’ and ‘Giriraja’ were preferred under the scheme. Such birds would lay eggs after five months.

With the intake of sufficient feed, every bird would attain a marketable weight of two to two-and-a-half kilograms in about one-and-a-half years, he said.