10 November, 2009 - Just before the government imposed its first ban on the import of poultry products in the country, a Pasakha farmer didn’t realise that what he was venturing into would become a successful business.

Budhiman Rai took a Nu 50,000 loan from the Bhutan development finance corporation in 2003 and bought 200 broiler chickens (chickens meant for meat) from Kathmandu, Nepal. Today Budhiman is a proud owner of a poultry farm and a successful poultry owner. “I thought I’d make some money and opened a farm,” said Budhiman. “I didn’t know the ban was coming.”

After a year, when he had slaughtered all the broiler chickens, he purchased layers (chicken raised to lay eggs) and, within a few years, had 2,500 layers. His eggs carry his trademark (BM Pasakha) and are sold in Thimphu and Phuentsholing. As a marketing strategy, Budhiman transports the eggs to his retailers in Thimphu and Phuentsholing.

With the outbreak of bird flu in the region and the government tightening restrictions, Budhiman’s business was becoming lucrative. He bought a set of incubators with a capacity to hatch 1,500 eggs. “I invested in the incubator, since I don’t have parent breed of chickens,” he said.

Budhiman now plans to study how to rear parent chickens and found out that New Zealand has the best poultry breed. “I need to study, since rearing of parent chickens and other chickens are different. I’m studying how to get the chickens from New Zealand,” he said. Parent chickens lay eggs and rear chicks, while layer chickens are meant for laying eggs and do not rear chicks; broiler chickens do not lay eggs. Budhiman recently brought 500 layer-breed eggs from Nepal and will soon see layer chickens hatch.

Every day Budhiman supplies over 400 to 500 eggs. Over 40 cartons go to Thimphu and six to seven in Phuentsholing.