NAVTI Foundation - Poultry Project

Project overview

Bui Division - one of fifty-three divisions in Cameroon - is made up of five subdivisions covering a land surface of approximately 2 300 km2 with roughly 480 000 inhabitants. It is a rural area and one of the most naturally endowed regions in Cameroon, with rich natural, cultural, and human resources. The main occupation of the inhabitants of this area is traditional agriculture and animal husbandry.

Livestock sector does well in this region given that we have vast land for grazing. Cattle are key activity here followed by goat, pig and sheep rearing. Poultry farming is in small scale because of lack of incubator centers to provide farmers with chickens for breeding and lack of proper marketing channels. The farms are generally quite small in scale and adequate agricultural techniques are not employed.

About the project: Current problems

Farmers from this region buy over 15,000 chicks monthly for fattening purposes from different regions as far as 200 km distances at very high cost and often are not able to get regular supplies.
Price of mature 8 weeks old chicken is sold for 8-10 euro in our region where as is sold for 4-5euro in other big chicken producing areas with low cost advantages.
Chicken meat is eaten only during festivals because they are very expensive.
Over 15,000 eggs are consumed monthly and 98% of the egg is produced in different regions implying cash outflow from our town and its prices very high for local population.
Less then 20% of population eat 1 egg a month showing a level of malnutrition.
Inter country road networks is 80% untarred roads which make transportation cost more expensive and not very convenient for fragile produces such as young chicks and egg.
Poultry farming is a very lucrative sector but less then 100 farmers practice it because of high cost involved in sourcing young chicks for fattening which explains why we have high unemployment rates and high rural urban migration.
There is no poultry training facility in our region for farmers hence making knowledge transfer in this sector difficult.

Seeing these difficulties, the NAVTI Foundation Cameroon designed a project to set up a poultry farm to benefit the local population. NAVTI Foundation Hong Kong and partners sponsored in 2009 the starting of a poultry farm with a 5000 eggs capacity incubator and hatching set which will provide one day to two week-old chicks to farmers in our region at affordable prices. This the first poultry farm with incubators and hatching machine in this region of over 450,000 people. Once farmers have received their allotted birds, they fatten and market for consumption hence providing more household income. Thus, the premise of the project is to increase self-sufficiency and alleviate poverty amongst the rural population of Cameroon’s Bui Division who number over 480,000. The empowerment of these people – whom we consider to be under-privileged –through poultry farming is an effective tool for rural development.

Activities currently being carried out

currently have a 5000 egg incubator and 5000 egg hatcher.
Constructed a farm house of 6 rooms temporary being used as our brooding house which will be transformed to training center after chicken house is constructed.
Supplying over 4000 chickens monthly to local farmers.
Have a small standby generator.

Objectives

Reducing poverty in rural areas by the reinforcement and the development of economic sub-sectors such as traditional agriculture; reduction of Unemployment and encouragement of self-employment opportunities

Specific objectives - To expand our existing poultry farm by

Adding an incubator machine to expand our monthly supply by 5,000 chicks.
Enhance our electricity backup system to sustain power failures.
Construct a poultry rearing house for 5,000 chicks.
Start a training program within the farm to train farmers on better poultry management techniques (on proper chicken feeding practices, proper sanitary and prophylactic, good growth rates, and market weights and to prepare them for rearing their chicks to maturity).
Develop feed processing unit to make our own feed hence making cost of production cheaper.
Acquire a car to assist us meet needy farmers in remote villages 50km away.
Assist in marketing of end products of farmers.
Have a micro revolving fund where we shall offer loans to poultry farms.

Project expansion plan

We shall complete our project effectively by pursuing the following steps:

Buying One incubator machine with a total of 5,000 chicks egg capacity.
Build a chicken house for brooding chicken.
Organize monthly workshops with at least 20 participants each to train farmers on poultry farming.
Acquire feed processing unit.
Buy a four wheel drive van for disturbing to villages as far as 50km.
Assist farmers market their products.

Target population

The rural populations of the Bui division and Donga/Mantum division of Northwest region of Cameroon’s will be targeted with over 400,000 people. Directly we benefit over next 5 years

300 poultry farmers in our region including.
75 women, and 25 mbororo (Fulani) women.
50 disabled persons.
75 youths ready to subscribe to our center for training and supplies.

Expected project outcome

We shall expand our hatching capacity to 10,000 chicks a month hence offering day old chickens to more needy farmers.
Have infrastructure to house over 5,000 chickens.
We shall have training program to offer training programs to over 300 new and old farmers on better poultry management techniques and increased productivity.
We expect to reduce prices of primary inputs to farmers such as young chicks, egg and chicken feed by 20% in our region.
have a van which shall help us reach out to needy farmers in villages 50km away.
Due to high feed conversion rates, the birds will act as an important source of family income by yielding quick returns on invested capital.
Increase full and part time employment in the region hence reducing unemployment.
Improve Organic farming practices where by poultry manure, will be used as fertilizer in place of chemical manure to increasing crop productivity.
Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals — eradicate extreme hunger and poverty.