Researchers use chicken farms to aid Mozambique

U of S project links income with health

SASKATOON Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan are heading a chicken farming pilot project in Mozambique to improve public health by bolstering the economy.

Project Frango is designed to be a “self-sustaining Mozambican incubator project” that will train local residents to start and manage a chicken farm. The goal of the project is for 16 families per year to learn about raising chickens and running a farm business.

Dr. Ron Siemens, of the U of S College of Medicine, is helping spearhead the project alongside the local community and the Universidade Lurio in Mozambique. He said people often don’t understand how closely income and health are linked.

“We’ve seen that the biggest indicator of health worldwide is family income,” he said. “Lots of people had very small farms and five or six children ... and they’re just basically subsisting.”

Siemens’ friend and counterpart in Mozambique is Dr. Celso Belo, the dean of health sciences at the Universidade Lurio. While on a visit to Saskatoon, Belo said this new project stands out because it is not support being “parachuted” in by an outside organization, but rather it involves working within the community.

“You’re not giving people food, but you are giving them the tools to produce their own food,” he said. “You’re helping these local people to develop and improve.”

Project Frango’s website refers to Mozambique as one of the world’s poorest countries, with high rates of maternal mortality and an extremely low average yearly income.

Siemens said the families enrolled in the program will receive profits throughout the yearlong mentoring process, and the program will create a sustainable business model in the area. According to the project’s website, families will leave the project with the knowledge and resources necessary to start their own farms and boost the economy.