By Victoria Denison | Executive Assistant, Shivia
As we approach the end of 2016 we would like to update you with the all the latest facts and figures about Poultry Development Services (PDS) – our project in West Bengal that enables families living in poverty to earn an income from rearing chickens.
As you read on you will see how our project is having a big impact on women in particular. The burden of poverty so often falls most heavily on women and this affects her children too. But when women are able to earn money they are empowered to make spending decisions. When women earn money they invariably spend it on the family. When women earn money they gain the respect of their family and community. This is the impact PDS is having in rural villages near Kolkata and we want to thank you for helping us to make this change.
FACTS AND FIGURES
IMPACT AND OUTCOMES
In the vast majority of cases it is the woman/mother in the household who takes up the poultry enterprise as she can do this while also caring for the family at home. She is also responsible for selling the produce within the community and at local markets.
We encourage our farmers to keep their hens for breeding and egg production, as this is the most profitable use of the toolkit. Our research has shown that household income can increase by 30% per year from the sale of eggs alone. Assuming a minimum production rate of 120 eggs per hen per year, our farmer can earn £60 from just ten hens. By breeding her hens she can quickly increase the size of her flock and see her income increase proportionally. Male birds can be sold for meat when they reach maturity. A 2kgs bird will sell for c. £2.20 in the local market and more if the farmer can access markets further afield.
Earning money from their enterprise and making the spending decisions gives our women farmers a huge sense of empowerment, invariably for the first time in their lives. They are well respected by their husbands, family members and peers. Their economic and social standing improves with this opportunity and this proves to be very significant too. Our women farmers are very positive role models for young girls and other women in their community.
A woman farmer will invariably spend the income from her poultry enterprise for the benefit of her family. If she has school age children her priority is to give them access to a good education. This often means buying the uniform, shoes and books they need to attend, paying for the bus fare to school or paying for private tuition to help children gain access to higher education. Money is often used to pay for medicines, as there is no free healthcare. She will also make sure that her children eat well, buying more nutritious food than before and regularly using some of the eggs for making a meal. And for a special occasion she may pop one of the chickens in the pot, once they are beyond the egg laying stage!
A CASE STUDY FROM WEST BENGAL
PUTUL lives in a one-bedroom house with five other family members. They share a shabby kitchen with a neighbouring family. Like her husband, she worked as a casual labourer in the fields nearby but the work did not provide a regular income and they quickly fell into debt and were prey to the local, unscrupulous moneylenders.
Desperate for another source of income, Putul decided to register with Shivia’s Poultry Development Services programme after she heard about it at a local community awareness meeting. Being in debt meant that Putul was keen to earn money from her poultry toolkit as quickly as possible so she raised the chicks and sold the birds for meat at the local market. With the profit she was able to pay off the loan to the moneylender and invest in a second toolkit.
A few months after starting her poultry enterprise Putul is in a much better place financially and is really making her small business work for her and the family. She has built up a flock of over 40 birds. Her 12 year-old daughter has been able to stay at school and hopes to finish her studies and become a school teacher one day. Many young girls in the villages are married as young as 13 and Putul is very happy that she can afford to send her daughter to school and offer her a different way of life. She is delighted with the outcome of her poultry enterprise and is saving to buy a sewing machine so she can develop a tailoring business from home too.
We have many more stories about how our Poultry Development Services project is helping families earn the extra money they need to improve their lives. We look forward to sharing more of those stories in our next report. Until then we would like to thank you once again for helping us to help others who are in need. This is our opportunity to let you know how much they appreciate the opportunity you have given them.
“I cannot thank Shivia enough for giving me this opportunity. I am extremely happy that your team held my hand and provided me with excellent training to understand about raising chickens and earning money from them. I now have the confidence to carry on with my poultry enterprise on my own.” Putul, PDS farmer, West Bengal
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