Momin Ishaq, a 10-year-old boy from the village of Munad Guffan in Kulgam, has created a portable egg incubator that is both economical and efficient. Momin spent two years developing the incubator, despite facing various challenges along the way. His perseverance paid off, and he successfully created an incubator that can help the local poultry industry and small-scale farmers, while also providing a regulated environment for hatching eggs.
Momin has been curious about the abundance of colored chicks (Desi Chicks) in the market since he was a young child. His childhood aspiration was to create an innovation that would benefit not only people around him but also small-scale farmers. “I was rearing ‘Desi chickens,’ but they weren’t hatching eggs. Hence I worked on creating a low-cost egg incubator for around two years and completed it successfully,” Momin said.
An incubator is usually large in size and helps to hatch eggs, while also keeping a suitable temperature when chicks start to brood. Momin’s incubator, however, is portable and much less expensive. He told “The Kashmir Upfront” that his incubator can hatch 200 eggs at once. “As of now, the incubator has hatched the eggs, and others will follow,” Momin said.
He said that the incubator was designed to maintain a temperature of 37.5 degrees, which is required for hatching eggs. The process takes 18 days, provided that it gets uninterrupted electricity. Despite facing many odds and encountering several failed attempts, Momin never gave up on his project. Not even power outages could deter his plans. “At times electricity would play hide and seek, but I continued to work,” he added.
Momin believes that his project will be a boon to the poultry industry. He claims that the incubator is a three-in-one product that can hatch eggs, serve as a cooler, and charge mobile phones. His father, Mohd Ishaq Teeli, told “The Kashmir Upfront” that his son worked hard on this project despite being too young. “I borrowed money from others to purchase an inverter battery, which kept his project alive. I’m glad that my son is involved in this project.” Teeli called the innovation “his dream project.”
“We need to provide great support to our youngsters who aspire to do good for society,” Teeli added. Momin’s success is proof that age is not a barrier when it comes to innovation and creativity. With the right support and resources, children like Momin can create solutions that benefit not only their communities but also the world at large.
