Migratory duck farming on paddy stubble

Migratory or nomadic duck farming is a traditional low-cost system practised across the post-harvest paddy belts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. Itinerant herders walk large flocks of 500-2,000 ducks across freshly harvested paddy fields to glean fallen grain, snails, weed seeds and insect larvae, then move the flock onward as each field is exhausted. The system supplies eggs (predominantly from Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner) and meat, while delivering on-field pest control and manure to paddy farmers.

Principle

The flock supplements about three-quarters of its daily intake from gleaned grain and aquatic invertebrates, reducing supplementary feed cost to a fraction of what a confined unit would require. Ducks deposit a continuous trail of nitrogen-rich manure as they move across the field, contributing to the next paddy crop. Paddy growers benefit from reduced golden-apple-snail and stem-borer pressure on subsequent crops.

Implementation

Herders walk flocks in stages of a few kilometres a day along canal banks and field bunds during the rabi and summer harvest windows. The flock is corralled at night with portable bamboo or fishing-net enclosures next to a water body. Drakes and layers are usually managed together; eggs are collected each morning and sold to local traders along the route. Khaki Campbell layers (Khaki Campbell Duck) are favoured because they continue laying through long migrations on a low-input diet.

Adoption context

The system is concentrated in the Kuttanad region of Kerala, the Krishna-Godavari delta of Andhra Pradesh, the Cauvery delta of Tamil Nadu and the wetland zones of West Bengal. It coexists with sedentary scavenging country chicken (Country Chicken Nattu Kodi) in the same village landscape, but ducks rather than chickens dominate where paddy and water bodies are the principal landscape feature.

Limitations

Long-distance flock movement and contact with wild waterfowl have linked migratory duck farming to recurrent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), particularly in Kerala. ICAR-NIVEDI risk assessments single out the system as a critical vector pathway for HPAI, and culling operations during outbreaks impose heavy losses on herders. Routine vaccination against duck plague and Newcastle disease (Ranikhet Newcastle Disease) and night-corral hygiene (Biosecurity Cleaning Between Batches) are increasingly recommended.

References

Unique duck rearing in irrigated rice paddy fields driving H5N1 outbreaks. PMC.
How ducks serve as labourers for Kerala paddy farmers. The News Minute.