Baglung. Kalij Farm made of iron wire in the forest near the house. On the same farm, red, green, blue and splashy kalis run, jump and fly. Hundreds of kalijs are seen in one place, which attracts many people who come here. It has been seven years since Chudamani Kandel, a local of Dhorpatan Municipality-2, Salamkot, of Baglung district, started rearing black gold.

In 2075 BS, Kandel brought three females and a male Kalij from Kavre. At first, he didn’t think he would follow him professionally. However, after the desire to raise more, his business is now flourishing.

Kandel has so far invested more than Rs 5 million in the business he started by bringing four kalis for Rs 24,000. Kandel has built a fence on 10 ropanis of land.

As the business of Kalij became better, he has started producing chicks himself. Locals are also happy that the Kalij Kandel, which is found in the forest, has started rearing it commercially. Kandel, who joined the government service on a permanent basis twelve years ago, is a health worker. He works at the Burtibang Provincial Hospital in the afternoon to look after the college in the morning and evening. Kandel, who has been interested in catching and rearing birds since childhood, has a large number of visitors from far and wide after he started rearing birds.

Kandel, who started his business seven years ago by registering a farm named ‘Sano Swarg’, is excited to see the business doing well. At present, there are about two thousand small and big colleges in his farm. More than 1,500 are ready for sale, Kandel said.

According to him, more than two hundred Kalijs were sold during the Dashain and Tihar festival, adding that a large number of customers have been coming to the farm in search of Kalij in recent times. Kandel said that in the beginning, it was very difficult to sell the kalij but now there is a good market. According to him, they are selling at Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per college.

“This profession is my passion, I took a little in the beginning and later I started building a farm after seeing the possibility of doing it commercially,” he said, adding, “There were many problems in the past, now it is getting better and I am increasing investment.” ’

According to him, a leopard entered the farm a few days ago and killed 150 kaliz and suffered a loss of Rs 300,000. Kandel is happy that Kalij, which started being nurtured by interest, has now become a source of income. Kandel’s father Tulsiram Kandel has supported him in the upbringing of Kalij. Chudamani said that the target is to sell Kalij worth Rs 15 lakh this year.

According to Kandel, the demand has also increased as the farm has become more systematic in recent period. He said that although there was a problem in managing chicks in the beginning, now the hatchery produces chicks on its own. He said that even though the production is increasing, it will be difficult to find a market.