Commercial poultry farming had not begun in Nepal when Guna Chandra Bista started Abhinash Poultry Breeding Farm – a hatchery – in Chitwan district in 1990, reports MyRepublica. Before opening the hatchery, Bista and his friendly were already operating Everest Feeds Industry.

Mr Bista invested four million rupees (NPR) in his farm even though putting money in poultry farming was considered a risky business due to uncertainty about the market.

Abhinash Poultry Breeding Farm is considered a milestone in the commercialisation of poultry industry outside the capital. Setting up a hatchery in Chitwan was a challenging task, as the hot climate in Tarai districts were previously considered unfavourable for poultry farming.

Today, Abhinash Group – with Abhinash Feeds, Abhinash Hatchery, Abhinash Poultry and Narayani Poultry under its umbrella – is one of the largest poultry producers in the country. "We are the largest producer of layers chicks in the country," Mr Bista, who is also the president of Abhinash Group.

The group produces 60,000 broiler and 25,000 layers chicks every week. The nation produces a total of 1.2 million broiler and 60,000 layer chicks every week.

Mr Bista said growing demand for chicks from farmers and shortage of chicks in the market encouraged him to open a hatchery in Chitwan. "I started this hatchery farm in consultation with Indian experts, who provided me valuable inputs on the successful management of hatchery farms in hot areas like Chitwan," he explained.

Abhinash Hatchery started with 2,000 parent chicks of Key Stone Brown, an Indian breed of layers.

Abhinash Poultry now produces 800kg of broiler chicken every day. The daily production of dressed chicken hovers around 350kg.

Mr Bista said the Group is preparing to increase chicken production by increasing number of broiler chicks at Narayani Poultry from 60,000 to 150,000 birds. "We are planning to produce 400,000 chicks, including 50,000 layers, every week," he added.

The group is also hiring 150 more workers to support its expansion plan. The fresh recruitment would double the group's existing workforce to 300.

"The expansion of Narayani Poultry will be completed within six months," Mr Bista told MyRepublica.

The group has invested more than NPR500 million in its ventures, and records an average annual turnover of NPR120 million.

Today, poultry business has expanded to different parts of the country. But it is not free from problems and challenges. Government indifference, frequent strikes and recurrence of bird flu are the major factors hindering the growth of poultry sector in the country, Mr Bista added.

He also suggested the government form 'Poultry Police' to manage this ever-expanding sector, which has already seen investment of more than NPR16 billion.