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| Emu birds at the farm in Chhatri (Photo Credit: Ankit Mahajan) |
Gagan Singh’s house has become a place of great interest for the people of Chhatri, especially for children around the village. It’s not that Gagan Singh is a magician who can take children for a fantasy ride or entertain them with his juggling skills. His house started attracting village attention for the last few months, when Gagan decided to build an emu farm.
From that day, his house is visited by almost all the villagers to see these long-legged birds. Children spend hours watching these birds running and playing around in the farm. They even bring food from their homes to feed these rare birds.
Emus are flightless birds native to Australia. The birds can be very productive for 25 to 35 years and can lay 20 to 50 eggs in a season. ''The birds are very responsive and need very less care. All they need is an open farm where they can run freely because they can run at tremendous speed”, says Gagan. According to him, the birds are very adaptive and can stay in very hot as well as in very cold conditions. Moreover, they show love and affection towards their owner.
“This trend is very new in the region, so usually people get surprised when they hear that I have invested almost Rs. 5 lakh in this business.”, tells Gagan. For starters, there is reason to get surprised, since a pair of emus cost at least Rs. 20,000 in the market. However, its eggs fetch good prices.
According to Gagan, a mature emu lays at least 20 eggs in a season and an egg can fetch a price of Rs. 2000. Emu meat is low in fat, and the fat can be used in producing dietary supplements and cosmetics. “I am confident that I am going to get very good returns”, says he.
Since its arrival to India in 1996, emu farming is picking up popularity across the country with a great rise in the number of farms. However, there are few cases in South India which are alarming for the new investors. Many investors in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have lost staggering amount of hard earned money trying to set up emu farms.
In short, Emus are interesting, but don’t get your hands burned.
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