February 27, 2023

Improving the accessibility of chicken meat and by-products to BoP consumers

Animal Production Related

Ivory Coast

In Côte d'Ivoire, the end-of-year period is a good time to sell poultry. For years, chicken has been one of the best recipes for celebrating New Year's Eve. For poultry farmers, this is an occasion that offers many market opportunities, but which must be prepared from the beginning of the year. To build the capacity of poultry farmers in the KDS-2SCALE poultry partnership in Côte d'Ivoire, the programme facilitated a Business Model Canvas (BMC) workshop in the Korhogo’s ABC earlier this year.

The overall objective of the BMC workshop was to jointly define the value proposition that the Poro Poultry Farmers Cooperative (SCARP) will offer to their low-income customers, as well as the most appropriate communication and distribution models to reach them. There was also work on the marketing plan and strategy to be put in place by the association as well as the definition of a brand to improve the visibility of the products.

Winning customers, offering value, distribution and financial optimisation were the main topics discussed during the training. For SCARP, which is involved in poultry partnership activities, this training came at the right time. With little organisational structure, SCARP was in dire need of a viable marketing strategy for all its members.

Promoting a visual identity

Following the BMC workshop, 2SCALE accompanied the members of the cooperative in the design and development of a visual identity. Thus, in order to be able to differentiate itself from the products on the market, the cooperative deemed it necessary to impose its brand.

Today, with its new logo embodying its image, SCARP's poultry products are visible in every corner of the markets. However, the cooperative does not intend to stop there.

Campaigns to change consumer behaviour

As part of its vision to gain a large share of the poultry market in Côte d'Ivoire during the end-of-year celebrations, SCARP recently initiated a series of consumer awareness campaigns with the aim of raising the cooperative's profile, increasing their sales volumes and, above all, raising consumer awareness of the importance of consuming animal protein.

It is in this same vein that on 8 october, a campaign was organised targeting restaurants and steakhouses in the city of Korhogo in order to map the distributors and inform them of the benefits of chicken while sharing some recipe ideas.

16 (sixteen) young people from the cooperative, including 4 youngs women, wearing SCARP branded t-shirts, went to meet 31 hotels restaurants and steakhouses. They also handed out flyers with a brief description of SCARP, the benefits of chicken, some ideas for chicken dishes such as braised intestines, chicken leg soups and telephone contacts.

As a prelude to this awareness campaign, the BSS (Business Support Services) engaged by 2SCALE in the field carried out two training sessions to enable the young agents to master the commercial discourse and understand the objective of these activities.

Ensuring a sustainable supply to customers

The awareness campaign also led to the visit of 7 new restaurants that expressed interest in future collaboration if continuous supply is guaranteed. As for existing customers, the cooperative wanted them to be visited in turn to assess their level of satisfaction and to win back those who are inactive. The latter mentioned problems related to the weight of the chickens, the cooperative's stock shortages and the strong competition with households during the holiday periods.

During the holidays, it is difficult to find chicken, we are competing with households. I want to work with SCARP if they can deliver chickens continuously. There should be no shortage.

says DJATA, a chicken seller.

The restaurant owners, for their part, showed great interest in the new menus presented. For some, it is above all a source of inspiration, of diversification of dishes and of clientele by offering, for example, chicken feet or intestines to a clientele with a more limited income. They testify:

The recipe ideas are interesting. I will try them out with my customers. I already work with SCARP and it's going very well.

says CHARLES.

As for some restaurant owners, they are not limited to the explanations given on the recipes, they want to have the leaflets to better test the dishes. This is the case of PELAGIE, a chicken seller in Korhogo.

The menus are interesting. Can I keep the leaflet?

This marketing strategy introduced by 2SCALE to the SCARP cooperative is a model that is being implemented in other PEAs of the poultry partnership in Côte d'Ivoire. In addition to restaurants and other chicken retailers, the strategy aims to facilitate access to poultry meat for low-income consumers.

In addition, for the past two years, SCARP has been organising a fair to promote the consumption of local chicken called "The 7 poultry days".

2SCALE, through this partnership, intends to support similar initiatives that allow for the popularisation of the consumption of chicken meat and products.

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