Empowering India's Rural Poor through Poultry

The 'BEFORE' story

Jayanti was living with her parents-in-law and three daughters, while her husband migrated to Tamil Nadu to find work as a daily-wage labourer. The family owned a small piece of land where Jayanti tried to grow rice but, with no stable income and growing responsibilities, survival became a daily challenge.

The situation worsened when Jayanti’s father-in-law suffered from a kidney disease and passed away during treatment. The family had borrowed 1,00,000 (c. £80) to cover the medical expenses, which left them under immense financial pressure. Household responsibilities, education expenses and the loan repayment placed a heavy burden on Jayanti. Finally, two of her daughters had to stop going to school and the elder daughter started tailoring work to help support the family.

First steps in poultry farming

Jayanti attended a community meeting along with other villagers where our team introduced Poultry Development Services and explained the purpose and benefits of raising chickens. During the beneficiary selection process, the team identified Jayanti as a deserving candidate because of her dire economic situation. Although she had no experience in poultry farming, she showed clear enthusiasm for starting the programme and was eager to learn.

Training sessions soon started, including making a suitable chicken coop, preparation of homemade poultry feed, growing Azolla and termite cultivation as a protein-rich source of low-cost chicken feed; poultry shed management, feeding schedules, vaccinations and disease control.

Jayanti contributed 200 (c £1.60) as her registration fee and received her first Poultry Toolkit of ten day-old chicks.

Building on success

Jayanti carefully followed the training and advice given by the Field Team. With dedication and regular monitoring from the team, all her chicks survived - a remarkable achievement for a first-time poultry farmer.

Soon she made her first sale - she sold eight chickens to a buyer from a local road-side restaurant. She kept the other two chickens - one for home consumption and one for egg laying. Encouraged by her success, Jayanti invested in three more toolkits. The profits she made increased her confidence and her interest in building her poultry enterprise.

Outcomes and impact

Our Field Team in Nayagagh District reported that the transformation in Jayanti’s life has been remarkable:

• Education restored: Jayanti has now admitted her middle daughter into the 9th grade, ensuring her education continues.
• Debt repayment: She has successfully repaid 55,000 of the earlier loan.
• Future vision: Her dream is to establish a large-scale poultry farm and eventually expand into goat farming for additional income.

Jayanti says...

“From my heart I want to thank everyone from Shivia and Nirman for giving me the opportunity to join this project and learn all about poultry farming. It has opened a new path for me and my family with stability and hope for the future.”