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If you visit Kuttanad, Kerala at a certain time of year, you are able to hear on the rice fields a noise one might not expect, the quacking of ducks. It is not the sound of a few ducks, but the sound of thousands. In Kuttanad when the harvest season is finished duck farmers move in, and take their flocks through the pre-designated rice fields for feeding.

Aby, a 38-year old duck farmer calculates that his 10,000 ducklings are worth around Rs. 24 lakh. According to him, if the ducks survive through the period, one can save up to Rs. 5 lakh a season, despite expenses for medicine and daily wages for his helpers.

This is a livelihood for many of the farmers, but their process differs greatly from many of the commercial duck farmers you will see in the United States. Some US duck farms can process up to 70,000 ducks per week at a single site, but the good news is that duck farmers who visit Kuttanad have neither the facilities nor manpower to produce or maintain such large quantities. Instead these farmers spend 6 months of the year keeping their flocks on the move, to keep them feeding until they are ready to sell. In some ways this is the definition of “free range” meat, but at what cost?

These farmers are on the move constantly when the flocks are feeding, traveling as far as the borders of Tamil Nadu; they must brave the weather,  provide medical care to injured or sick ducks, and collect eggs (sometimes as many as 400) every day. It does not seem to be an easy livelihood, but duck farmers also have a very positive impact. These farmers provide employment for people who live in the area around where the ducks are feeding, the flocks help fertilize the soil for the rice’s next season, and the ducks themselves provide great tasting delicacies.

This traditional way of duck farming may be very time-consuming for the yield, but it has many great benefits to the community that commercial duck farming from the US cannot offer. Unfortunately these traditional methods are likely to change as more development and technologies move in, but for now if you visit Kuttanad at that certain time of year, you will be sure to hear the quacking of ducks.

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