September 12, 2022

 

Zimbabwe to distribute over 300,000 chicks under Presidential Poultry Scheme

 

 

Zimbabwe is distributing more than 300,000 chicks to provinces under the Presidential Poultry Scheme to reduce poverty and improve incomes in rural areas, All Africa reported.

 

Over the course of the next five years, the programme will provide 10 free-range chicks to each of three million rural households.

 

The Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme aims to increase rural incomes, commercialise rural poultry production, and give families a plentiful source of protein.

 

The secretary general of the Zimbabwe Free Range Poultry Association (ZFRPA), Beauty Jiji, said that more smallholder free-range poultry producers were supplying day-old chicks on a weekly basis or bringing fertilised eggs for hatching across the nation.

 

To cut the cost of distributing the chicks and to guarantee that each province has a distribution centre, ZFRPA is establishing brooders in the provinces.

 

The three million rural households were not the only ones to benefit from the programme, according to Jiji; the majority of farmers who provided them with eggs also received large sums of money that were improving their quality of life.

 

Arnold Mutamba of Norton, one of the producers, said that by contributing an average of 80 crates of fertilised eggs per week to the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme, he was able to pay for his daughter's college education.

 

The programme has also given rural areas hope that they will soon develop into export hubs for organically produced live chicken, eggs, and chicken meat in the next two to three years, generating thousands of dollars for Zimbabwe.

 

The chickens come in a variety of breeds, including Boschveld, Sasso, Kuroiler, and native breeds. Zimbabwe is home to more than 50 million chickens.

 

Three million households nationwide will receive 30 million rural chickens as part of the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme.

 

-      All Africa