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Organic doesn’t work when buyers don’t share the burden

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Girdhar, Poultry Farmer, Hisar

I run a poultry farm in Hisar. Big one. Around 10,000 birds at a time — eggs and meat. I sell mostly in Delhi. My younger brother studies computers in Bengaluru. He keeps saying organic is big there. Premium prices. So, he pushed me to try organic poultry. I didn’t want to risk my main business. So, I made a small shed. Only 1,000 birds. Trial.

Reality Translation Layer.

First problem — feed. My regular suppliers refused organic feed. Flat no. So, we tried grains, farm waste, some jugaad feed. Birds survived. But weight gain was slow. I was okay.

Vaccination — I did not stop. Without that poultry will fail. Simple. Then came records. Lot of records. Feed, health, movement, everything. My supervisor refused extra work. Said already overloaded. I tried doing it myself. Mistakes still happened.

Am I alone or someone is holding my hand!

Brother was helping from Bengaluru. Reading internet. Advising. Then he said organic birds need open grazing. That was it. I asked him straight — who will give me double price for this headache? He searched buyers. No assured buyer. Everyone said demand must be created first.

Is it really worthwhile or just cosmetics?

We finished one cycle. Learned a lot. Lost time. No premium. For me, organic poultry is not practical. Not today. Not in my market.