Farmers in Embu county are distressed lot over the high cost of chicken feed that was threatening to kill their dream of earning a living from chicken rearing.
The farmers who have taken to rearing improved kienyeji chicken for the market are worried that their investments may go up in smoke, unless the government does something to lower the cost of finished feeds or the raw materials for formulating their own.
The chicken farmers are in some of the projects sponsored by the Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP), which is helping farmers in the county to commercialize their farming activities, develop sustainable value chains, achieve food and nutritional security and improve incomes.
The project has focused on poultry, dairy and banana value chains in Embu county, with the farmers being helped to be organized in groups that not only produce together, but also market their produce in partnership so as to bargain for better prices, says Stellah Mukami, the ASDSP Co-ordinator in the county.
Mukami says working on a five-year plan, ASDSP has identified and is working to close gaps identified in the three value chains so that farmers can have increased incomes.
In the Makima area of Mbeere South sub county, the project helped the farmers acquire breeding stock of the KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken. The KARI Improved Kienyeji chicken is more resilient than local chicken and attains market weight faster.
The breeding stock is managed by the Makima Community Based Organisation (CBO) in a multiplication center that supplies the rest of the community, with day-old chicks and fertilized eggs for brooding.
The Chair of Makima CBO Bines Ndunge said in spite of some teething problems such as disease shocks and lack of market for their eggs and chicks, the farmers have seen the benefits of rearing the chicken commercially, not only increasing family incomes, but also giving some economic independence to the area’s women folk who are the main players in the chicken venture.
Ndunge says that besides ASDSP’s assistance in acquiring the initial 850 breeding birds, the project also provided extension services, besides being on hand to advise in case of disease outbreaks.
A committee member of Makima CBO Mr David Njue said the project also helps them acquire skills needed in formulating their own feeds, when the prices of feeds started soaring, threatening to eat into all their profits.
However, their relief was only short-lived, because soon after the prices of feed raw materials such as soya, sunflower and fishmeal also shot up, while the formulation materials could also not be found in the market altogether.
Jane Kithome, one of the pioneering farmers in the project said there was an initial disappointment with the project due to diseases, but veterinary staff taught her how to tackle and prevent disease.
“What I learned from dealing with the diseases is that there are diseases to be prevented with vaccines and those to be treated with drugs when they occur,” Kithome added.
The popularity of the chicken venture has attracted other investors such as Agatha Munyiri who has invested in a brooder and now supplies chicks to other farmers.
She said she buys fertilized eggs from the Makima CBO multiplication centre, which she broods and sells to others when they are a month old.
“I discovered that month-old chicks fetch better prices than day-old ones,” she said.
The coordinator of the poultry project with ASDSP, Mercy Njeru said one of the successes of the project is that farmers have stopped looking at chicken farming as a hobby, but as a worthwhile investment.
She added that the project is handy for farmers in the area who traditionally depended on crops farming and goat husbandry, activities that have in recent years been adversely affected by erratic weather.
She said to support the marketing of the chicken, they have facilitated the formation of the Mbeere Twins Cooperative Society, which collects market ready chicken from farmers and negotiates for better prices for them.
She added that the project has enabled the chicken population to grow from an average of ten chicken per household to the current about 40.
