Started with 1,000 eggs, rice husk and a lantern; now over 150,000 ducklings a month

According to The Business Standard, a 42-year-old man from Kothurikona village in Madan upazila, Netrokona, once struggled to feed his family of seven. On his elder brother's advice he bought 1,000 eggs and tried the traditional hatching method with rice husk and a kerosene lantern, and it worked. The method needs no electricity: fertilised eggs 5–7 days old are washed, sun-dried and placed in a bamboo granary surrounded by husk; lantern and eggs take turns inside for four hours each, in rotation, for 18 days, then the eggs spend 12 more days on a mattress-covered hatching bed. On day 25 rotten eggs are removed by torchlight; most ducklings hatch by day 28–30. He now hatches over 150,000 ducklings a month, is a trainer recognised by the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, and has built a brick house and bought land. More than 180 families in the village do this full-time. Livestock Research Institute research in Baniachang, Habiganj found a household sets about 10,125 eggs a month with 70% hatchability; monthly costs including eggs and husk are Tk 110,666, sales at Tk 25 per duckling bring about Tk 177,200, for a net profit of Tk 66,534. Prices vary by season, and most owners rely on their own money or informal loans; a Baniachang hatchery owner said low-interest loans and training could double output.