A total of 300 sets of poultry will be distributed after Eidul Azha.
The livestock department said that the poultry and calf farming schemes have been suspended till the order of the new prime minister.
The poultry farms are located in Rawalpindi, Dina, Jhelum, Gujrat, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Lahore, Attock, Sargodha, Multan, Bahawalpur, and Bahawalnagar.
Initially sold for Rs1,050 per set, the price was revised to Rs1,130 and has now increased to Rs1,400. Moreover, the subsidy given on these sets has been slashed by 50 percent, and distribution among households has been halved. Since the scheme’s inception three years ago, the Poultry Research Institute has distributed a total of 2.5 million chickens at the subsidized rate of Rs1,050 all over the province of Punjab. One set consists of five hens and a rooster, will all chickens weighing 900 grams each. The hens usually start laying eggs two months after arriving at their owners’ place, averaging 220 to 250 eggs per year.
These chickens require no special diet and live quite well on leftover kitchen scraps such as fruit and vegetable peels, used tea leaves, and residual pieces of bread.
“We only raise chickens of the finest breeds and do not take any funds for their rearing from the government,” added Dr. Atif
