August 16, 2022

Reducing Labour-intensity in the Poultry Sector in Oromia Region Ethiopia-One Farmer at a Time

Animal Production Related

Ethiopia

The eradication of extreme poverty from the world is the first of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. At 2SCALE, we recognize that the private sector plays a key role in poverty reduction through creating employment opportunities and building inclusive and sustainable business models.

At the heart of 2SCALE interventions, is creating sustainable partnerships and empowering inclusive agribusiness enterprises to meet their objectives or adopt new business models. 2SCALE makes use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to facilitate inclusive growth. It is through these partnerships that the program nurtures local and regional entrepreneurial capacity to offer innovative solutions for actors such as MSMEs, SMEs, farmer groups, consumers, etc.

In Ethiopia, the partnership between Chico Meat Ethiopia (CME) and 2SCALE aims to reach more than 30,000 Urban Base of Pyramid (BoP) consumers with a consistent supply of quality chicken at competitive prices. This nutritious chicken is sourced from broiler out-growers networks in Ethiopia. To promote inclusivity, the partnership has prioritized empowering women and youth as out-growers (private micro businesses) operating in the sector. Presently, CME is working with more than 45 out-growers. 65% of them are youth-led while 40% are women-led. Furthermore, each of the out-growers has a minimum of 5 employees working under them, a majority being young women.

The biggest challenge these women face is the workload and burden of providing drinking water to chicken. The activity is tedious and time-consuming as they carry water in buckets from tankers usually set outside of the poultry house, and distribute it into traditional drinkers that are set on the poultry house floor.

Easing the Burden: The Introduction of an Innovative Technology

In response to this, the partnership has introduced automatic water drinkers as an innovative technology in poultry production. This technology is expected to create more efficient working systems, and thereby support the out-growers businesses. It also lightens the workload of women and youth who work in the poultry houses.

With the roll-out of this technology in March 2022, two theoretical and practical training sessions have been facilitated for over 23 laborers and owners of the poultry houses.

Mr. Tekle Fresenbet is a young CME out-grower who voluntarily cost-shared and installed the automatic water drinker technology on his farm. He owns three chicken house sheds with a total production capacity of up to 3,000 broilers at a time.

During one of the training sessions, Mr. Tekle shared his practical farm experience by saying:

After I installed the automatic water drinker technology, I observed major improvement with no wet floor situations at my poultry houses, and thus less effort needed to monitor temperature.

On the other hand, Mr. Girma Gete is a senior CME out-grower who has a strong passion for the poultry sector. So far, his total production capacity is approximately 700 chickens at a time. He strives to operate a successful poultry production business and pass it to his children soon.

He appreciated the strategic process carried out under the partnership for identifying hindering situations and counter solutions targeting women and youth. He said:

Many people in the poultry sector, including myself, are operating with just (trial and error) experiences rather than scientific and updated knowledge. Though I expect to pass my business to my children sometime soon, gaining such knowledge prepared me to encourage and support future investment decisions on innovative technologies.

The Impact on Women and Youth

Ms. Marta Selho is a young businesswoman who runs a microenterprise in the poultry sector. At 31 years, she has been in the poultry business since 2015 and has been working as an out-grower for CME for the past two and half years. The total production capacity of her farm reaches up to 2,000 chickens at a time. She is the second out-grower who voluntarily cost-shared and installed the automatic water drinker technology at her farm.

Ms. Marta acknowledged the impact that the installed automatic water drinker technology has brought to her business. Water expenses have been reduced by around 5 to 10%. She narrates,

Through the introduction of the automatic water drinkers, our water expenses have drastically reduced. Before, when we were using buckets to fetch water, unavoidable spillages could cause wastage and thus increased water expenses and inefficiency.

She also added that this technology has helped reduce labor costs since she now needs fewer employees as labor intensity has been reduced significantly. Previously, she would engage seven employees to take care of the poultry house (five during the day and two at night). She now engages three employees, significantly reducing the costs she would spend on labor costs.

Additionally, Ms. Marta said:

As a woman in the poultry business, I feel more satisfied with this technology and the burden it has come to ease. My women employees no longer have to carry buckets of water each day and thus their efficiency is even more improved!

On the other hand, 24-year-old Ms. Alem is an employee working at Ms. Marta’s farm. Though she has worked at Ms. Marta’s farm for less than five months, she has worked at different poultry farms for more than two years now.

She also expressed her impression of this technology by saying:

I am happy with this innovative technology. It eases my workload especially when it comes to monitoring water levels. It has greatly reduced physical burden from manually supplying water using traditional water drinkers.

While this innovation is promoting efficiency in the poultry sector, it is more hygienic as it ensures chickens have consistent clean water. We applaud the commitment of CME and other private entities we work with, who strive to build sustainable businesses by adopting and investing in innovative technologies to improve efficiency.

As a partnership facilitator who closely facilitates the implementation of activities under the partnership, our Marketing Specialist from Ethiopia, Ms. Dehab Mehari says,

Supporting private sector development, especially by intentionally targeting women and youth in agribusiness will have huge potential to identify, implement, and scale best practices. Such efforts and achievements largely contribute to the still clear and present global need to enhance ‘Nutrition & Food Security through promoting sustainable agriculture.

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