Tanzania: New Hope as Chicken Project Takes Off

Monday, December 28, 2009

In the a quiet and laid-back Coastal Region, a pioneering new project involving poultry farming is giving ordinary people a chance to lift themselves out of poverty.

Research Into Use (RIU) is a programme based in Dar es Salaam which aims at promoting innovations and utilisation of new knowledge and research output, to eradicate poverty.

RIU has so far enabled a community in the Rufiji District to rear a hundreds of chicks each with the intention of selling them at markets in six month’s time.

The location poses lots of challenges to the farmers because of the distances people have to travel in order to access the necessary support services like buying chicks, feed, vaccines and other veterinary drugs, as well as competing in at the market-place.

By developing sustainable local systems and capacities to provide such services at affordable prices, entrepreneurs in the local chicken industry have the chance to create a small business and improve their lives.

Source: The Citizen (link opens in a new window)