From foreign employment to local entrepreneurship: Dharmendra Rana earns Rs 250,000 a month from egg production

Kanchanpur: Dharmendra Rana of Bansah in Shuklaphanta Municipality-1, Kanchanpur, who went to Malaysia in search of employment 11 years ago, is now earning a monthly income of Rs 250,000 through egg production in his own village.

The 26-year-old Rana reached Malaysia in 2014 but returned home within a year on the instructions of the agent. “After returning from Malaysia, I searched for employment in various parts of India,” he said. Two years ago, he established a poultry farm in his village and began commercial egg production. “At present, four thousand chickens are laying eggs,” Rana said. “Although the monthly turnover is around Rs 900,000 to Rs 1 million, the profit is about Rs 250,000.”

According to Rana, the egg business performs well from Kartik to Magh. “I started with 1,500 chickens, and now I have 4,000,” he said. “The business that began with an investment of Rs 3 million has now grown to around Rs 8 million.” Currently, between 2,500 and 3,000 eggs are sold daily.

Rana shared that when he was in Malaysia, his uncle Sitaram Rana, who is from Natapar, was working in an egg production company. “When I went to visit my uncle, I got the idea of returning home and getting involved in production,” he said. “Due to a lack of investment, I also worked in India for some time. Later, I invested the money I received from selling a rice threshing mill into egg production.”

Rana stated that he has not received any subsidies from concerned bodies such as the Agricultural Knowledge Center or the Animal Husbandry Office. He introduced modern cagestock technology for laying hens for the first time in Kanchanpur. “The Rana Tharu community has traditionally raised chickens in villages for decades, but I started it commercially here using modern technology,” he said. “If there is investment, skills, and hard work, there is no need to go to the Gulf for employment.” He added that he is expanding his investment in the poultry farm with his current income.

Rana said there is no problem in marketing the eggs produced from his farm. “Eggs are being sold daily in almost all the municipal markets here,” he said. He urged the government to focus on encouraging youths engaged in productive work within the country. “Local and central governments should provide support packages to low-income youths when they engage in agriculture and production,” he said. “If government support reaches real farmers, many youths can find employment in their own backyards.”