A hill village in Tehri Garhwal is quietly rewriting what rural enterprise can look like in the mountains. The Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand announced on Friday, August 14, 2026, that Chham — a village in Tehri Garhwal district — is emerging as a new identity for scientific and modern poultry farming, anchored by a state-run broiler hatchery producing quality day-old chicks through advanced technology.

What the Chham Hatchery Is Actually Doing

The Rajkiya Broiler Hatchery at Chham has been established under the Mukhyamantri Krishi Vikas Yojana (Chief Minister's Agricultural Development Scheme). The facility uses modern techniques to produce quality day-old broiler chicks — the foundational input that determines the health and productivity of an entire poultry cycle. The post states directly: 'aadhunik taknik se gunavatttapurn de-old broiler chuze taiyar kiye ja rahe hain' — 'quality day-old broiler chicks are being prepared using modern technology.'

For small and marginal poultry farmers in the hills, access to reliable, disease-free day-old chicks has historically meant long supply chains from the plains. A government hatchery in the district changes that equation — locally, and immediately.

Tehri Garhwal's Terrain and the Out-Migration Problem

Tehri Garhwal is one of Uttarakhand's most rugged districts, where hilly terrain constrains conventional agriculture. The state has grappled with persistent rural out-migration since its formation in 2000, as young people leave for the plains in search of livelihoods. Animal husbandry — and poultry in particular — has been identified by successive state governments as a viable rural enterprise that does not demand flat land.

The Mukhyamantri Krishi Vikas Yojana sits within a longer policy lineage: Uttarakhand governments have consistently pushed modernisation of agriculture and allied sectors to raise incomes without requiring migration. A hatchery at Chham is a concrete node in that network — one that supplies inputs, anchors local enterprise, and potentially seeds employment for rural youth.

What Comes Next for the Scheme

The broader pattern to watch is whether the state replicates the Chham model in other remote Garhwal or Kumaon districts. The scheme's framework already covers allied agricultural sectors beyond poultry, and a successful hatchery demonstration could accelerate rollout of similar units or linked training programmes for farmers.

Chham may be a single village, but what it signals is a state betting that modern infrastructure — placed precisely in the hills — can hold people, and livelihoods, in place.