November 09, 2021

Keys to inclusive poultry farming

Animal Production Related

Ivory Coast

The poultry sector is increasingly important in the Ivorian economy. Before the 2002 political crisis, this sector accounted for about 45% of the total contribution of livestock and fisheries to GDP. This represents approximately 2.9% of agricultural GDP and 1% of overall GDP. It generated nearly 250 billion CFA francs and created 200,000 jobs, including 70,000 direct jobs and 130,000 indirect jobs. This sector is the main outlet for agricultural products and agro-industrial by-products, particularly maize, which alone accounts for 65% of poultry feed.

Small-scale farmers facing challenges

In Côte d'Ivoire, small-scale poultry producers face several challenges, including training, sanitary conditions, input supply, finance, and market access. With limited training on best production techniques, very few poultry farmers apply good practices. This negatively affects the yields and quality of poultry products. Biosecurity control and compliance on farms and in other poultry-related businesses, such as hatcheries and slaughterhouses, remains a serious problem. Added to this is the recurrent unavailability and quality of inputs (chicks, concentrates and maize) on the market, as well as the prices of veterinary products that are very often out of reach for small poultry farmers. Therefore, poultry farming requires large investments (working capital). The low level of organization and structuring of actors in this sector reduces their chances of accessing financial products and services adapted to their needs. Also, despite the protection of the local market through the levying of a so-called compensatory tax of 1,000 CFA on imported poultry, small-scale poultry farmers often face problems in selling their products on local markets.

The solutions of a public private partnership between KDS and 2SCALE

Koudijs Distribution Society (KDS) aims to revolutionize the poultry industry in Côte d'Ivoire. Today, poultry meat remains a luxury food, therefore inaccessible to low-income consumers. In order to contribute to food sovereignty in quality poultry meat through the professionalization of the sector and the offer of commercial outlets to small poultry and yellow maize producers, Koudjis, in partnership with 2SCALE, plans to strengthen the distribution channels of concentrated feed, chicks as well as the supply chains of yellow maize for poultry farmers. The company intends also to develop commercial relations between maize farmers, millers/provendors, poultry farmers, slaughterhouses and distributors of poultry products (meat and eggs). KDS has been involved in this activity for nearly 12 years and is now collaborating with 2SCALE to bring its ambition to scale.

The main activities of the partnership, to date, include the establishment of five main agribusiness clusters in the areas of Korhogo, Bouaké, Yamoussoukro, Daloa, and Abengourou. It also aims to support maize and poultry farmers' organizations to be better structured and to facilitate the inclusion of 5,500 women and 4,400 young people in the value chain, while creating more than 470 non-agricultural jobs by 2023. With this in mind, in early October 2021, KDS and 2SCALE organized a training session to enable more than 200 small-scale poultry farmers in the locality of Daloa to build their capacities on good poultry practices. This capacity building comes at the right time according to Mr. Etchi Maxence, Assistant to the first responsible of KDS:

This training was initiated at the request of the poultry farmers of the locality and had the objectives of reinforcing the capacities of a maximum of poultry farmers in order to give them the rudiments necessary for the good management of their chicken flocks, particularly to train them in the use of Koudijs products which are more and more appreciated, because of their quality. Out of a total of 200 poultry farmers expected for this training, we have seen the effective participation of more than 300 poultry farmers from Daloa and surrounding areas. This shows the interest of the poultry farmers for the training in good poultry production practices, and also the good ongoing relations between Koudijs and the farmers.

Highlights of the training

The first in a series of three trainings as part of the poultry partnership, this initial training was a real master stroke for the organizers. Two major themes were at the center of the debate, namely the technical and economic management of a poultry farm and the control of biosecurity in poultry farming. The company paid particular attention to these two themes for various reasons. Mr. Etchi Maxence adds:

Many poultry farmers are not in the habit of making ratio calculations in order to evaluate the profitability of their breeding, especially with Koudijs products. The non-control of the biosecurity involves risks for the poultry farmer, his peers and the consumer. Especially since an epidemic of avian flu was detected last August in Grand-Bassam, in the south of the country, fortunately, thanks to the diligence of the authorities, it was quickly contained. It was therefore crucial for us to strengthen the capacities of poultry farmers on these two aspects in order to make poultry production profitable, attractive and to reduce the risks of contamination for the well-being of all.

During the Q&A phase, another topic of interest to the youth participants was marketing support. The 2SCALE Partnership Facilitator made a presentation on this topic, focusing on market access and all the strategies developed by the program for BoP Marketing. An anonymous participant testifies:

The main problem we have as poultry farmers is the marketing of our products. Last year I had enough difficulties selling my chickens during the holidays. I appreciated the intervention of the 2SCALE Partnership Facilitator. It’s important for us poultry farmers to be well organized in order to benefit from certain advantages and access to the market.

Off activities

On the sidelines of the training activities, the company Koudijs took the opportunity to present its various products and poultry inputs, while setting a promotional price during the training period to the great delight of young poultry farmers. Mr. Etchi explains:

We launched this promotional offer to make it easier for poultry farmers to discover our products. Approximately 40% of the poultry farmers who came for the training do not use our products, they should put into practice what they have learned from this training. We have therefore initiated this promotion to encourage them to make a first experimentation of Koudijs products that they can adopt if the result is satisfactory. To this end, we were able to sell 3 tons of feed at the training site. Our local technicians will follow the poultry farmers who made these purchases.

Oriented towards end consumers, this partnership aims to facilitate access to poultry products in sufficient quantities and nutritional quality to 10,000 low-income consumers by 2023.

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