Innovations in Agriculture How CRS is helping Afghan villagers increase poultry production Background One of the most common challenges faced by smallscale farmers around the world is acquiring the skills and technology to increase production. Afghanistan is no exception. In Hirat and Bamyan Provinces, women in local villages lacked the basic skills to care for and raise chickens, which limited the production of eggs.
The CRS response Working with Dr. Karima, one of Afghanistan’s only female veterinarians, CRS staff taught 50 women in one village about proper feeding and watering, how to avoid or treat common poultry diseases, and how to keep both birds and eggs clean. They explained how to build a coop that would keep out rats and scorpions and provided screens for ventilation. CRS also started the women off with egg tray-cartons to link in local market, urging the group not to put eggs in a plastic bag where they could be smashed. Dr. Karima and a CRS colleague flew to the capital, Kabul, to search out the best chickens. “Domestic chickens only lay about 50 eggs a year,” says Fraidoon, Animal Husbandry Senior Project Officer. “The chickens we chose lay over 300 eggs each year.” Giving each woman seven hens and one rooster, CRS distributed over 8,000 chickens to women’s groups. The birds were selected for hardiness and for the taste of their eggs. “In the market, there are a lot of imported eggs from Iran and Pakistan, but they are white and not so in demand,” says Fraidoon. “They’re from chickens who get a lot of hormones. The eggs from the chickens CRS selected are more like the domestic variety, more delicious. The birds are free-range and get fresh air upon natural growing.”
Achievements The chickens started to lay eggs quickly, and within a few months families had enough eggs to eat and to sell. Bibi Gull, the group’s leader, takes the eggs to market in Herat about once a week. Carefully cradling four carton-trays holding 30 eggs apiece, she takes a bumpy hour-long bus
Bibi Gull lives in a poor village near Herat in Afghanistan. A CRS program trained her in poultry care and gave her several hens and a rooster. She now sells many eggs each month, and uses some of the profits to get medical treatment for her 14-year-old daughter. Laura Sheahen/CRS
ride to get there. Today the group’s leader, Bibi Gull, makes about $10 each week from the sale of her own eggs and other women farmers’ eggs. A portion of that goes into a saving box; the rest is profit for the women. In a place where $0.11 can buy a family bread for days, the extra money “makes a big difference,” says Bibi, who regularly monitors the women farmers’ flocks, providing instructions and distributing medicine as needed. In another village, the story of Ms. Masooma, a dynamic farmer from Shikban-e-Tajiki village in Zinda Jan district, illustrates well how CRS is helping farmers increase egg production. Ms. Masooma was provided with an egg hatching machine and accompanying materials, in addition to five days of intensive training on how to properly hatch and care for newborn chicks. The training was given by a veterinary doctor working for the Hirat ADA Animal Husbandry team. Under CRS guidance, Ms. Masooma used the hatching machine with 440 fertilized eggs and produced 212 healthy chicks after 21 days.
Bamyan province lies in the highlands of Afghanistan. The province covers an area of 17,414 km2 (6,723 mi² ) of mostly dry, mountainous terrain, while only 1.8% of the area is made up of flat land. According to the World Food Programme, only 8% of households in the province’s rural areas derive some income from trade and services.
Pleased with the results, she purchased an additional machine for $100 from her own budget and succeeded in hatching another 550 healthy chicks from 850 eggs.
She eventually sold 200 three-month old chicks for $5 each and 500 one-month old chicks for $3 each. After expenses for feed and vaccinations, she netted $1,000. Ms. Masooma plans to purchase an automatic hatching machine to keep the temperature sustainable and reduce the losses of eggs during incubation. This project shows that, with the proper training and support, egg hatching can be done successfully by women in rural areas of Hirat province and that there is a market locally for improved generation chicks.
Ms. Masooma with her chicks and egg hatching machine. Top right: during the distribution process. Photos: CRS staff
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