Empowering India's Rural Poor through Poultry

I am pleased to report on the progress of our poultry farming programme in Odisha, an eastern Indian State on the Bay of Bengal where I am working for Shivia and managing our operations there.

One of the first steps of the programme is to organise an orientation session for newly enrolled beneficiaries. This is an opportunity for all official staff members and farmers to introduce themselves.  As Shivia's representative, I welcome both parties whilst explaining the clear objectives and plan behind the poultry programme. This provides reassurance to our new farmers that Shivia will be there to fully support them.

In order for new farmers to fully grasp the opportunities this programme has to give, a meeting is organised between new and existing farmers who are already successfully raising chickens and earning a regular income. This is where existing farmers can share their experiences and wisdom on poultry farming. Some of the wisdom for example includes the importance of the process of drinking management for the young chicks, something which must be done with great care, as illustrated in the photo below.

Additionally, a few visits are made to homes and villages for the new farmers to fully understand poultry farming in order to be able to apply the techniques. In the photo you can see a visit to a successful farmer’s home and poultry shed where we taught new farmers temperature and feed management skills.

Teaching farmers to cultivate azolla

Azolla is a water based crop and has been widely used to fertilise rice paddies and increase rice production. Although this information was known to our farmers, we are teaching them that they can also use it for poultry farming. Azolla is now gaining popularity as a feed supplement for poultry, especially amongst livestock rearing communities in India. It has several health benefits for chickens due to its high protein, vitamin and mineral content and therefore is a beneficial asset to our poultry programme.

I am very pleased that the poultry farming programme in Odisha is making significant progress, with new farmers adopting the techniques shown to them by our existing farmers and carefully tending to their chicks.

Thank you for supporting this important programme which is helping to transform the lives of hundreds of marginalised and vulnerable families in Odisha.

Smruti Das

Assistant Consultant to Shivia