Empowering India's Rural Poor through Poultry

We have just returned from a visit to West Bengal to see, at first hand, how our poultry-farming programme is progressing.  On this occasion we were joined by a small group of supporters representing The Artemis Charitable Foundation, one of Shivia’s key corporate donors over the last five years. 

Despite the increasing temperatures in and around Kolkata, we had a very successful trip and the whole group took away some key messages about how a small flock of chickens can help people living on the poverty line in these rural villages make a better life for themselves. 

“It is quite staggering how a clever toolkit practically administered can act as such a powerful catalyst to give individuals the hope and means for a better future.” Elaine Gordon, Head of Institutional Business, Artemis Investment Management LLP

The impact of our poultry farming programme is predominately felt by the women who take up the enterprise, and their children who tend to be the beneficiaries of the extra income earned by their mothers when she sells the produce, the eggs from her hens and the mature male birds for meat.

Over the course of three days, we visited 15 farmers, all women, who have been raising chickens with the help of your donations to Shivia, and earning money to support their family.  Like all of the people we have been working with over the last six years (nearly 9,000 farmers), every one of the women we talked to has a positive and unique story to tell about how chickens have changed her life.

In this report, we want to tell you just a couple of those stories, both of which highlight how our poultry programme has encouraged two very hard working women to become micro-entrepreneurs in their local communities.

The first is Tinku – she is 38 years old and married with two children aged 11 and 16.  With the extra income she has earned by selling eggs and chickens, Tinku has been able to pay for some private tuition for her children.  By our standards, this might sound unaffordable for a family living in poverty in rural India, but in her small village where the government schools are not providing a good education (often due to teacher absenteeism), the goal of many parents is to seek and pay for some extra tuition for their children. A good-sized chicken or a tray of fresh eggs can pay for one of those valuable lessons. Like parents the world over, Tinku and her husband know that a good education is the key to success in later life. 

Aside from raising chickens, Tinku has used her newfound sales and marketing skills to start a second micro-enterprise.  She is now buying inexpensive saris from a local wholesaler and selling them for a small profit in her village.  She is managing to earn an additional £12 a month as a result of her efforts. 

Our second example is Shila who has also used the money from selling her eggs and chickens to pay for her son’s education.  He is 16 years old and has just sat his first public examinations, which means he will be able to go onto higher education. Shila hopes her son will leave school with good results and be able to get a well-paid job in the city.  PDS has also allowed Shila to buy a gas stove, which will significantly improve their living conditions – most families in the village burn wood or charcoal for cooking which produce a toxic smoke, causing significant respiratory problems. 

Shila also has the entrepreneurial spirit and is selling some of her chickens to local families for festivals, weddings and other celebrations.  She keeps a mental record of future events to ensure she has enough stock to fulfil her orders.

We look forward to sharing more success stories like these with you in our next report and hope you will consider supporting more entrepreneurial women like Tinku and Shila with a £15 Shivia Poultry Toolkit.

With thanks and our very best wishes,

The Shivia team.