Kendrapada villagers cash in on ‘Kadaknath’ chicken

KENDRAPADA: Far away from its habitat in Madhya Pradesh, the protein-rich breed of chicken, popularly known as ‘Kadaknath’, has changed the lives of many persons in the coastal district of Kendrapada. An increasing number of villagers are commercially rearing the fowl with black flesh to earn good money at the time of Covid-19 crisis.
Kadaknath is considered a premium breed and its meat is priced thrice that of broiler chicken.Kadaknath meat is known for its high iron content and much lower cholesterol than other breeds. “We are supplying chicks of Kadaknath to the farmers after getting them from the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) in Bhubaneswar. We will also soon start incubation of the chicks from eggs of Kadaknath in our centre at Kendrapada,” said Surya Narayan Mishra, a senior scientist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) at Kendrapada.
The fear of coronavirus is making a large number of people eat the meat of Kadaknath to increase their immunity as a result farmers are making good profit, he said. Kadakanath farming offers great scope and potential because of its supplementary income and additional employment to farmers. “We are providing proper training and equipment to the farmers,” added Mishra.
“Thanks to the livelihood schemes of the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM), large number of migrant returnees and self help group members are now busy rearing and selling Kadakanath in Kendrapada district after getting financial helps from us,” said Satyabhama Pradhan, district project manager, OLM.
From only ten farms last year , there are around 180 Kadaknath farms now in the district. The reason for the growth of Kadaknath farms is the increasing demand for its meat which is believed to have medicinal properties, added Pradhan. Due to huge demand of the bird, which has its origin in Madhya Pradesh, around 300 families of Kendrapada district are rearing Kadaknath following promotion by government-run OLM and KVK.