Youth get chicks courtesy of Mahinda

By Ifham Nizam

Plans are underway to launch a programme to provide nearly 5,000 male chicks discarded monthly from several state-owned farms to the unemployed youth and low-income families. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, yesterday, instructed officials to stop the practice of disposing of male chicks from farms under the National Livestock Development Board and the Department of Animal Production and Health.

For many years, almost over 5,000 male chicks hatched in these farms per month have been used as pig feed.

Minister Amaraweera said, “At present, a large number of youth in the country are unemployed. So, we can give these chicks to rear them for meat.”