Started with 100 ducks for Tk 55,000; now 500 ducks earn Tk 40,000-50,000 a month

In Dhanakusha village, Nakla upazila, Sherpur, a 37-year-old woman runs a small duck farm in her brother's yard. Her marriage ended in 2013 and she returned to her father's home with two children, then worked seven years in the quality department of a garment factory in Ashulia, Dhaka. Illness forced her to leave the job and she came back to the village in 2020. There she learned that a UNDP project training centre taught life skills and commercial duck rearing, and she took nine days of hands-on training in two rounds. With Tk 50,000 from her job savings and Tk 5,000 of UNDP support she bought 100 egg-laying ducks, then kept reinvesting the profit from egg sales to grow the farm. She feeds the ducks, changes the water and brings them in each evening, all on her own. The farm now has about 500 ducks and gives 90 to 100 eggs a day. After feed, medicine and other costs she earns Tk 40,000 to 50,000 a month. The farm also employs three more women. Her elder son now has a job and her daughter studies at a madrasa. She wants to grow the farm and give work to disabled and neglected women.