Kienyeji Chicken Demand Presents New Opportunities To LW Farmers
Updated on: Dec 29, 2020
Hundreds of farmers in Laikipia West have identified business opportunities fueled by growing demand for indigenous (Kienyenji) chicken. And they do have a good reason to do so.
Last year, rearing of indigenous chicken earned farmers in the sub-county Kshs 61.1 million from sale of 135,860 trays of eggs. This pales the Kshs 4.7 million earned by those who reared exotic chicken after selling 15,700 trays of eggs.
To turn indigenous chicken rearing into viable businesses, the county department of Agriculture identified farmers and who formed the groups and trained them on the improved Kienyeji chicken farming, how to nurture SMEs through business development models including writing of business plans in order to also earn money from the venture.
This shows that the demand of eggs from the indigenous chicken was very high as compared to the one from exotic chicken.
The county department of Agriculture ,Livestock and Fisheries have partnered with the Catholic Dioceses of Nyahururu -Caritas which is implementing a livelihood project with improved indigenous chicken as one of the components.
The project was launched at Ndaragwiti village in Ol moran ward at the farm of one farmer Mr Kanyingi who has approximately 350 chicken.
Approximately 9,500 improved Kienyeji chicks from KARLO were distributed to 22 farmer groups each with an average of 20 farmers. The farmers were drawn from four wards; Githiga, Olmoran, Marmanet and Sosian.
The National Government under Climate Smart Agricultural Productivity Project in collaboration with KALRO- will supply the chicks to the farmers.
Six lead farmers, were also identified from the six wards and contracted to be supplying farmers with day old chicks to rear them, to enable the project to be self-reliant on the supply of hatching eggs. They received 2,400 chicks from KARLO. This also help in training the farmers who would visit the farms to learn more about chicken farmers. The project also procured four (4) incubators with capacity of 528 eggs each to the farmers.
The County will also procure and distribute 1000 improved kienyeji cocks to farmers in the county. This will help improve the productivity of chicken in the County. The improved kienyeji chicken lay more eggs in a year as compared to the Kienyeji chicken.
Mr. Njenga Kahiro emphasized on how better breeds from KARLO will improve productivity, as chicks also grow at a faster rate and weigh more than the Kienyeji chicken. The improved Kienyeji chicken are also tolerant to diseases.
Last year, rearing of indigenous chicken earned farmers in the sub-county Kshs 61.1 million from sale of 135,860 trays of eggs. This pales the Kshs 4.7 million earned by those who reared exotic chicken after selling 15,700 trays of eggs.
To turn indigenous chicken rearing into viable businesses, the county department of Agriculture identified farmers and who formed the groups and trained them on the improved Kienyeji chicken farming, how to nurture SMEs through business development models including writing of business plans in order to also earn money from the venture.
This shows that the demand of eggs from the indigenous chicken was very high as compared to the one from exotic chicken.
The county department of Agriculture ,Livestock and Fisheries have partnered with the Catholic Dioceses of Nyahururu -Caritas which is implementing a livelihood project with improved indigenous chicken as one of the components.
The project was launched at Ndaragwiti village in Ol moran ward at the farm of one farmer Mr Kanyingi who has approximately 350 chicken.
Approximately 9,500 improved Kienyeji chicks from KARLO were distributed to 22 farmer groups each with an average of 20 farmers. The farmers were drawn from four wards; Githiga, Olmoran, Marmanet and Sosian.
The National Government under Climate Smart Agricultural Productivity Project in collaboration with KALRO- will supply the chicks to the farmers.
Six lead farmers, were also identified from the six wards and contracted to be supplying farmers with day old chicks to rear them, to enable the project to be self-reliant on the supply of hatching eggs. They received 2,400 chicks from KARLO. This also help in training the farmers who would visit the farms to learn more about chicken farmers. The project also procured four (4) incubators with capacity of 528 eggs each to the farmers.
The County will also procure and distribute 1000 improved kienyeji cocks to farmers in the county. This will help improve the productivity of chicken in the County. The improved kienyeji chicken lay more eggs in a year as compared to the Kienyeji chicken.
Mr. Njenga Kahiro emphasized on how better breeds from KARLO will improve productivity, as chicks also grow at a faster rate and weigh more than the Kienyeji chicken. The improved Kienyeji chicken are also tolerant to diseases.
