It takes a lot to raise, move, slaughter, consume cows; they use up a lot of land, they use up a lot of water, and they have a big ecosystem footprint. So they are big emitters of greenhouse gases, big water users, and land use. A more sustainable protein sources like chicken will have lower footprints across a variety of environmental indicators like water, ecosystem biodiversity loss, and lower emitters of greenhouse gases. In areas like sub Saharan Africa, Kenya in particular, almost every rural homestead practice rearing of indigenous chicken as source of food and income. However, sustainable production of poultry is constrained by majorly diseases among other factors. Therefore lack of such animal protein contributes to the rise in malnutrition in the region and the higher risk of non-communicable diseases. “One Village one poultry vet project” is a socio-economic intensification framework aimed at building social and human capital both on the input and output side of rural poultry production for economic and dietary benefits. Its overall goal is to make sure that farmers have access to the right kind of services, knowledge, inputs, information, financing, and market access. Inadequate agriculture extension services in the poor economies has lowered production hence a contributing factor to changes in consumption patterns that eventually lead to inadequate nutritious diets and hence malnutrition.
Target beneficiaries are rural smallholder farming households and youth entrepreneurs that need a sustainable health-enhancing food system needs to produce nutritious healthier diets and safe food. In addition, preserve the environment to lower resource intensity and sound use of inputs, and we want to create attractive economic opportunities for the people along the whole value chain.We want to bridge the gap of service provision existing between the training institutions, the government agencies under ministry of agriculture, the veterinary agro dealers and the rural farming households plus the youth agripreneurs as the beneficiaries.
Our partners include the certified veterinary doctors, Bukura agricultural college, Kakamega, Kenya and Baraka agricultural college, Molo, Kenya and the youth in agribusines.
In 2016, the project idea was introduced in Busia county of western Kenya covering a single village due to financial constraints. The support of the project has been volunteer based and hence up-scaling may be done with more funding availability. I have mobilized a group of fellow young people to work on voluntary basis offering extension advise in local administrative area gatherings. With full support, this initiative can be scaled up to reach more rural areas across Kenya.
This model encompasses a self investing platform that begins with a seed of 5 hens and a cock, then reaching out to rural communities to recruit vibrant and self dedicated young people to be trained in poultry management. The youth are selected competitively from each village in the county during the first 3 months of the project. Training is followed up by qualified veterinary doctors and thereafter the trainees are equipped with poultry medical inputs for disease management at start up. The youth maintain a register of poultry farmers. A social media platform is created to enhance region specific knowledge sharing and new developments in poultry management. The young people move weekly or as need arises in the villages disseminating poultry treatment at a fee after certification from relevant authorities.
Currently, contacts have been established between the technical institutes, certified veterinary officers, laboratory technicians, farmer organizations and rural youth in readiness for the project.
This community service initiative offers and will increase employment opportunities to the youth and promote sustainable production and consumption of poultry products in such areas. The net effect is economic empowerment of both farmers and the youth, Improved dietary consumption because of good production and less environmental footprint as compared to ruminant animal production of red meat in which they produce a lot of methane accounting to increased greenhouse gas emission.
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