Improvement of poultry farming practices
Non-compliance of the hen houses to the norm and the extensive breeding system are some of the main challenges of this partnership that should be addressed in order to improve the productivity of the breeders. In this traditional environment, as soon as the henhouse is opened in the morning, the chickens are left to roam in the wild. However, in order to improve productivity, it is necessary to have appropriate infrastructures for breeding, to keep the chickens and to feed them with a consistent food ration so that after 3 months, the chickens reach a marketable size.
Despite the existence of a few improved henhouses, most farmer practices are far from facilitating the achievement of the ambitious objectives of the partnership, namely to allow four production cycles with 50 chickens per cycle allowing each woman to have at least 200 chickens per year.
Without control, nor care, as soon as there was a disease, all the chicken were contaminated. In order to face all these constraints, the partnership has initiated training on poultry feed production and vaccination. Thus, thanks to the various training courses, the behaviors are changing, slowly but surely. Nowadays, the women producers make their own mixtures to obtain rich and nutritious poultry feed.
Training of village women vaccinators
During the last quarter of 2021, some 15 women from the partnership's 3 Agribusiness Clusters (ABCs) received training in vaccination techniques. These village women vaccinators play a crucial role in their communities. Previously, poultry vaccination was mostly done by men. But they were often busy and did not make themselves very available to the women who needed their services. The choice of women as vaccinators was not random. Ms. Maimouna Traoré, the community coach explains:
For a period of six months, the vaccination protects the poultry. But in the village, not all poultry farmers are members of the cooperative. Some of them refuse to vaccinate their chicks, which constitutes a great risk for all the farmers, given the easy transmission of poultry diseases.
In addition to their role as vaccinators, the women also play the role of educators. They take advantage of vaccination periods to raise awareness among other small-scale producers about the benefits of vaccination, but also about the adoption of good poultry farming practices.
Kadiatou Diarra has been a vaccinator in the village for more than five years. According to her, as the end of the year approaches, farmers suffer many losses. Not only is it the cold season, but it is also the period of diseases for the chickens. But since the training of the vaccinators, poultry diseases are rare in the village.
In addition, the current training of Wasaso and 2SCALE reinforces her knowledge, because in the past she used another technique. She explained:
Speaking of the conservation of vaccination products, the women have invented their own natural refrigeration technique. Since the village has no electricity, they keep the vaccine in a jar containing moist sand at a temperature of 20°C or below.
Vaccinators also make some income from this work. They do not receive a fixed salary. But depending on the number of chickens vaccinated, they get a percentage as an incentive - after deducting the money from the vaccination products and the profit saved in the group's fund.
Sitan Diarra is 22 years old, married and has three children. For her, being a vaccinator is a great responsibility in the village. Before participating in the training, she was assisting the two main vaccinators in the village. Today, she is one of them. Thanks to the income she earns from this work, she is able to thrive and support her husband in taking care of their family. This is also the impact of the Wasaso partnership.
Therefore, the union Wasaso wants to increase its production and marketing capacity to sell more improved local breed chicks to poultry farmers. Then, it buys the chickens back from the farmers for slaughter and sells the meat to wholesalers.
Like the 55 members of the Djinina women's group, the partnership aims to include 6,000 small-scale producers, 90 percent of whom are women with the capacity of at least 200 chickens per year per woman.
