For 33 year old Amrita Kunjur, vaccinating her poultry against Newcastle Disease (ND) has brought an added value to her family. Amrita who lives in the rural hinterland of Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand state in India, has always owned chickens. But due to the prevalence of Ranikhet Disease (Newcastle Disease), the flock never grew to a large enough size to earn a bit of extra income and for regular consumption.

“Earlier, we would hardly eat chicken regularly. We did not earn enough money to buy chickens,” says Amrita.

Amrita and her family exemplified the general condition of tribal families in Jharkhand. Many of their chickens were being wiped out mainly by ND and hardly had enough chickens to eat, let alone sell. For most of India’s tribal families, agriculture is the primary source of livelihood. But due to long dry spells, farming has not been as productive as desired and they often resort to buying food that they once produced. With inadequate income, most families find it extremely challenging to have proper nutritional intake, especially eggs and chicken. Buying chicken for consumption is not prioritised in comparison to other basic household needs. For families to afford to eat chicken, they must be able to keep free range chicken, free from diseases.

Vaccine leads to better nutrition

With the introduction of the Lasota ND vaccine in 2015, backyard poultry has flourished. Amrita’s family, who only managed to keep up to ten chickens before, have now increased their flock size to nearly fifty. As a result, the family can now afford to consume at least one chicken every week, giving them the much needed protein. Plus, considering the market value of one chicken at INR 300-400 (US$ 4.5 – 6) within the locality, the family is saving about INR 1500 (US$ 23), or about 60 percent of their present monthly food budget.

Another case is that of 32-year old Mariam Karkatta, who owns a flock of about 70 chickens, ten times more than she owned before she started vaccinating her chickens.

Being an early adopter, she was one of the first in her community to embrace the vaccination programme. After experiencing the benefits of vaccination first-hand, she actively promoted the vaccine in her village, which resulted in substantial increase in chicken population.

Consumption increases with growth in chicken flock

While Mariam’s family could only consume a few chickens the whole year previously, consumption has gone up to about two chickens every month.

For Mariam, the main concern has been the nutrition of her children. Apart from serving the children a regular diet of chicken, she also serves them chicken soup when they are ill. Additionally, eggs are added into their diet. “My son used to catch the flu easily but now he is healthy,” she remarks with a smile, pointing to her school-going son.

With the growth of her flock, Mariam keeps a healthy food budget. As she doesn’t have to buy chickens, she spends about INR 4000-5000 (US $ 60 – 75) on food every month.

With more and more families vaccinating their poultry against ND, it is evident that nutritional intake is slowly improving as families are now able to add chicken and eggs to their regular diets. This is a major boost to the health of community members, particularly children. It is a proof that, even supporting one parameter such as vaccination, goes a long way in improving the lives of poor rural families.

Written by Prasenjit De of Alternatives for GALVmed

Silanti Linda lives in a village, about 15 kilometres away from Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand state in India. Silanti and her family are part of the tribal community that has traditionally depended on farms, forests and livestock. They are however increasingly having to seek additional sources of income due to reduced productivity of the land and deforestation.

Many of the community members have taken up blue-collared jobs in nearby urban areas. Migration to big cities out of the state is also a common phenomenon.

Silanti’s husband works as a driver for a privately owned organisation in Ranchi. He earns about INR 4,000 (US $ 60) per month. Because of the high cost of living, this income is not sufficient hence the family’s need for an additional source of income.

Vaccine brings new opportunities

The introduction of the LaSota vaccine against Newcastle Disease (ND) has brought them a new economic opportunity. They can now keep and sell chickens because they are no longer being wiped out by the deadly ND (known locally as Ranikhet). “As we can get some income from chicken sales now, we can even save some money,” says Silanti Linda, a 32-year-old woman highlighting the economic benefit of vaccination against ND.

Keeping backyard poultry has been a traditional practice but the widely prevalent ND has regularly wiped out most of the chicken population during outbreak episodes. Silanti had three to four chickens at any given time. Now, one year after starting vaccination, she owns 40 to 45 chickens at a time. In the last 3 months, she has earned about INR 4,000 (US $ 60) from chicken sales. Although still a modest amount by any standard, it is an increase of about 33% to the average monthly household income. The additional income not only helps in meeting the increasing food expenses, but also helps in giving better education to their only child and takes care of medical expenses of the family. Even after all these expenses, she still manages to save some money.

For Silanti and other people who live below the poverty line, the economic benefits they have achieved due to the introduction of the Newcastle Disease vaccine is significant. She, like many others, has been able to revive a dormant occupation – chicken rearing.

Regular poultry businesses benefit too

However, the benefits are not limited to the poor alone. People in the regular poultry business have also been able to better manage and grow their existing businesses with the introduction of the vaccine. Before the vaccine was popularised, their trade survived marginally. They managed to negate the effects of ND by constantly buying new chicks from the market. But this meant additional “working capital” was constantly needed to offset low profit margins. Also, the farmers needed to spend more time on poultry management, leaving them with less time for other occupations.

The LaSota vaccine has helped these poultry keepers by decreasing their expenses on new chicks. The profit margins of the local poultry businesses have gone up. Umesh Lohra, a 54-year-old man, and his wife have been managing poultry for the last few years. They managed to grow an average flock size of 400 to 500, despite high mortality rates. They earned about INR 5,000 (US $ 75) per month from chicken sales. But now, after initiating vaccination, they earn INR 7,500 (US $ 112), or 50% more from chicken sales. As there is reduced chicken mortality after ND vaccination, they do not need to stock up on new chicks regularly. This saves substantial capital costs.

“We simply do not need to spend the amount of time we used to earlier. Hence, the management of poultry has become flexible,” says Umesh. The total family income now is almost INR 14,000 (US $ 209). Poultry sales is about half of total family income.

In 16 districts of Jharkhand state, where the vaccine was introduced, the effect is palpable in the economic lives of the people.

Written by Prasenjit De of Alternatives for GALVmed

On a recent trip to India, I had the opportunity to visit Manda Pandey in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. I was traveling with my colleague Rahul Srivastava who is the Marketing Officer for our South Asian programmes. Rahul and I were going to visit a new project that GALVmed is launching in the area to protect small ruminants (sheep and goats) against PPR (Pestes des Petits Ruminants). Here, 90% of tested animals were positive for exposure to PPR, yet livestock owners are oblivious to the problem that they face. The Sharif Gramudyog Vikas Kendra (SGVK) PPR vaccination project has thus been launched to deal with the disease.

PPR is a disease that mostly affects goats and to a lesser extent sheep. The disease is present in many parts of Africa and Asia. It is rapidly fatal in young animals. Most deaths are likely to occur 3-4 months after peak kidding and lambing, after maternal antibody levels drop to ineffective levels; 55-85% of affected animals die. The animals most at risk are those below one year of age. If an animal recovers, it has lifelong immunity [i].

PPR is initially characterised by a number of symptoms that appear between 6-7 days after contact with infected animals. These include a high fever, dullness, sneezing and serous (watery) discharge from the eyes. These are then followed a day or two later by lesions in the mouth, and discharge in the nose and eyes which becomes pus-like. Diarrhoea will develop 3-4 days after the onset of a fever.  Respiratory signs (laboured breathing and coughing) follow and become more severe when there is a secondary bacterial pneumonia.

Vaccination against PPR only works before the animals get the disease. Vaccination prevents disease and consequent loss of productivity (poor growth, drop in milk production, death).

The PPR/SGP vaccination project is aimed at small holder goat keepers. The aim is to get the livestock keepers to routinely vaccinate their goats and deworm. The project also aims to improve the community knowledge base and rearing practices to develop goat rearing as a viable livelihood activity. By the end of 12 months, over 92,000 PPR vaccinations will have been done, sixteen people trained to provide animal health services and two outlets supported to provide animal health inputs.

During this particular trip we also had the opportunity to visit a buffalo dairy and goat farm in Joya, Amroha also in Uttar Pradesh. The farm is owned and managed by Mr Azam Abbas. The farm has 17 buffaloes and 40 Rajashtan goats. This farm gets INR 40 per litre for their buffalo milk compared to INR 36 per litre that is the market rate. Goat milk is considered to be of medicinal value and sells at INR 2,000 [ii] per litre. Goats for meat are sold at 4 months of age weighing approximately 16-18kg with a killing out percentage of 45-48%. A Rajasthan buck weighs as much as 175kg.

Access to market is the main challenge for goat keepers and often at the mercy of traders who often manipulate the market for their own benefit.

[i] Radostits, O. M. et al, Veterinary Medicine.

[ii] 1 Indian rupee ~ 1.5 Kenya shillings

 

By Abdallah Twahir, Director of Market Development and Access

The graduate poultry keeper

In Homa Bay County, located in western Kenya, poultry vaccinations provide a new lease of life for the indigenous village poultry sector. Spearheaded by the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), vaccines have transformed traditional indigenous poultry keeping into a thriving enterprise attracting people of all ages due to the improved income it now offers.

James Guma Ojwang is a 26 year old communications and media graduate, and a full-time indigenous poultry farmer. He began rearing indigenous chickens in 2014 at his father’s home in the Wangcheng Location of Homa Bay County. Previously, Guma had worked on short-term contracts as a researcher for Population Services International, Kenya. To earn extra income, Guma decided to rear chickens, which take up little space compared to goats or cows. “The land here is not mine so rearing other animals can be challenging,” he said. Guma began with five chickens, which increased to 94 by hatching the conventional way using a hen and fertile eggs. But his early success was cut short in 2015 after losing 60 chickens to poultry diseases.

Since then, Guma now diligently vaccinates the chickens against Newcastle, Gumboro, and Marek’s diseases. He spends approximately KSh 5,000 (US $49.40) on vaccines over the course of four months’ worth of protection.

Today, Guma has 70 indigenous chickens of the improved Rainbow breed – 15 cocks and 55 hens with 135 six-week-old chicks. He rears his chickens in a metal house built of iron sheets where the chickens stay at night. Chicken mesh fencing extends around a small compound with pawpaw trees where the chickens can roam freely during the day.

According to Guma, regular vaccinations have increased his chickens’ survival and productivity. He vaccinates the chicks at one-day-old, two weeks and up to a month. And Guma enjoys the earnings – in a good month he makes KSh 12,000-15,000 (US $119-148) selling eggs when laying is at its peak. During the 2015 Christmas period and into early January 2016, Guma made KSh 80,000 (US $792) selling 140 chickens at the market. “Chickens, unlike electronics, aren’t liabilities. I earn from them and that’s why I value rearing them,” said Guma. He explains that unlike most youths who spend their money on buying the latest technological gadgets like phones, he would rather have a long-term outlook and invest his money on poultry with guaranteed income returns.

The positive economic impact of rearing chickens means Guma has chosen not to look for other jobs. Instead he sees his poultry enterprise as a viable source of income to provide start-up funding to enable him to expand. In the long-term, Guma plans to supply organic markets with indigenous chickens. “I aim to rear chickens in an organic way to target consumers in that niche market,” said Guma.

The motorcycle-taxi driver turned poultry keeper

Within the same county in Kubuya East Sub-Location, 25 year old Kelvin Odhiambo, a motorcycle-taxi operator (boda boda), also agrees his future has been improved by indigenous chicken rearing. He began rearing chickens in February 2016 after transporting chicken feed to a client’s home and admiring the flock. Odhiambo bought 100 day-old chicks from Kukuchic Breeding Farm in Rakwaro, his hometown, and credits timely vaccinations to all of them surviving to five months old. “I have vaccinated the chicks about five times so far since February,” he said.

Odhiambo consistently vaccinates his chickens against Gumboro, Newcastle Disease and Fowl Typhoid. He also understands how important hygiene is. Before anyone enters the chicken shed, they must wipe their feet in a disinfectant to avoid spreading possible infections. Since he started rearing chickens four months ago, vaccinations and medicines have cost him about KSh 4,000 (US $39). Once the chickens are five to six months old, he will start collecting eggs and sell them locally. Odhiambo aspires to rear 1,000 chickens and quit working as a boda boda operator, which he hopes will happen soon.

Odhiambo rears his chickens in a metallic shed with an adjacent chicken-mesh area. The shed, which cost him KSh 70,000 (US $693) to build including feeders/drinkers, surrounds a small compound with a tree where chickens freely roam during the day. Drinkers with water and feed hang from the tree. Odhiambo feeds the chicken at 8am and 1pm each day. “I value rearing chickens more than cows because in a few months I will get the eggs, but cows take about three years before getting anything from them,” he said.

The pastor turned poultry keeper

For 40 year old Newton Onyango Atela, pastor and father of five, improved indigenous chicken rearing economically sustains a home he runs for 187 disadvantaged children. Survival (and vaccination) of his 1,500-2,000 chickens matters, especially after he lost three-quarters of his 700 chickens to diseases preventable by vaccination in 2014. The chickens are reared free range and roam in a chicken mesh-enclosed compound. There are also iron sheet sheds where chickens stay at night, and the mud huts are used for brooding.

To ensure the chickens don’t succumb to Newcastle, Gumboro or Fowl Typhoid diseases, Onyango vaccinates them every two to three weeks up to eight weeks old. Medication and vaccines cost him up to KSh 15,000 (US $149) every four to six weeks. Hygiene practices are also maintained in the sheds, which have reduced disease outbreaks. “We are very serious on vaccines but we give medicine only when there is a disease,” said Onyango. That has reduced deaths to 2%, which mostly occur in the brooder.

Revenue at Onyango’s 12 hectare farm is generated by bulk sales of chickens to individual buyers or institutions such as colleges. During good months – such as festive periods – chicken sales are worth up to KSh 200,000 (US $1,980) and in bad months are worth about KSh 100,000 (US $990). Buyers also purchase chicks from the farm aged from one day old to over three weeks old. But eggs from the 350-360 layers are for the children in the home. Onyango has treasured chickens since he began rearing them two years ago; at times they have gotten him out of financial difficulties. “I have satisfaction having them. It’s something golden to me,” he says.

The tailor turned poultry keeper

Onyango’s view is shared by 54 year old Hellen Atieno Rudolph who values her flock of 28 improved indigenous chickens above any other possession. She has been a tailor in her hometown of Kakwaro for 20 years and as a tradition, kept local indigenous chicken. Still she never imagined the chickens would out-earn her tailoring business.

That changed in 2014 when, after training by the NGO, Technoserve, in her village, Atieno switched to rearing improved indigenous Rainbow breed chickens. She learned the importance of vaccinating her chickens against diseases like Gumboro, Newcastle Disease and Fowl Pox. Today, with 0.4 hectares, the widowed mother of three earns about KSh 1,200-1,500 (US $12-15) per month from selling a single chicken.

Atieno currently collects five eggs a day and locally sells one egg for KSh 10 (US $0.10). “In a week I can alter and repair one or two dresses but the chickens bring in a lot more than tailoring,” she says. Atieno vaccinates her chickens every three weeks until they are eight weeks old. On her piece of land she also grows groundnuts, maize, millet and vegetables on a subsistence basis. “Most of the food I eat I get from my farm. I don’t rely on buying from the local markets,” says Atieno.

According to a report by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, Kenya has about 31.4 million indigenous chickens being reared by farmers in rural areas. Indigenous chickens account for 84.1% of all poultry reared in the country.

Photos and story by James Karuga, WRENmedia correspondent

Produced by WRENmedia for GALVmed