When only the proverbial ‘mustard seed’ can challenge the PRPS’s rapid expansion
IN just over two years following its inception, the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme (PRPS) has made a significant impact, directly benefitting 124 593 households and bringing about positive transformation for numerous value chain actors within the industry.
Zimbabwe Free Range Poultry Association (ZFRPA) secretary general, Mrs Beauty Jiji recently revealed that 124 593 households had so far directly benefitted from programme while over 2 000 people have been employed by the ZFRPA member organisations.
The programme, which is ongoing saw the Government contracting ZFRPA to supply 30 million four-week-old birds and 300 000 tonnes of stress mix to three million households across the country’s 10 provinces.
The national launch of the PRPS was done by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Masvingo district’s Sipambi Village in August 2022. This was followed by provincial launches across all of the country’s 10 provinces and this is set to cascade to district levels.
To date, ZFRPA has distributed 1 245 931 birds at different ages, 73 391 stress mix packs and 11 716 packets of 10 kilogramme bags countrywide.
Background
Government introduced the Presidential Poultry Scheme as one of the eight facets under the Rural Development 8,0 model. It targets to boost nutrition and incomes for at least three million rural households drawn from across the country.
The Presidential Poultry Scheme launched on August 25, 2022 in Masvingo has since spread its wings to all of the country’s 10 provinces in line with the Government’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind.
Under the scheme, each household gets 10 free-range chicks in batches over a fiveyear period.
It is expected that the scheme will make rural communities’ hubs for organically-produced live chickens, eggs and chicken meat in the next two to three years.
The country is also expected to generate foreign currency from exports of the chickens and associated products.
How does ZFRPA ensure continued supply of birds for the PRPS?
In order to ensure continuity in distribution of the chicks in the communities, ZFRPA is currently working with over 10 agribusinesses and breeders who are supply day old chicks every Tuesday from small hatcheries.
It has also organised a commercial hatchery (Kunest hatchery) for producers who have no access to small hatcheries to ensure continuity in supply to communities.
Every Sunday, ZFRPA receives fertilised eggs, which are then sent to the commercial hatchery for a fee and the day-old chicks then are taken for brooding.
Multiplier effects of the programme on the whole economy
Producer/small-medium-scale farmers The PRPS has massive ripple effects in the whole economy with those first in the line of production being the producer farmers who are supplying the day-old chicks for the programme. An insatiable market has been created for them and they need to increase their operations through increased employment and expanded infrastructure. Eighty percent of the suppliers are women, youths and pensioners.
Breeders
The same also happens to breeders who are producing fertilised eggs from selected breeds and selling to contracted farmers who need to invest more in their operations to produce more fertilised eggs. Hatcheries
Small-to-large scale hatcheries offer incubation services where farmers send their eggs for hatching (fertilised eggs to produce day-old chicks) for the programme. There is one commercial hatchery and over 40 small-to-medium range hatcheries. These supply services and day-old chicks. Transporters
Transporters play a crucial role in ferrying fertilised eggs to the hatchery, day-old chicks to brooders, feed to brooders and ready to distribute birds to distribution
Province
Matabeleland North
Masvingo
Mashonaland East
Matabeleland South
Manicaland
Midlands
Mashonaland West
Harare
Bulawayo
Mashonaland Central
No of Birds distributed 94 504 123 817 313 934 101 878 121 028 114 518 123 848 96 728 45 348 110 328 1 245 931 points. So far about nine key transporters with small trucks from 1,5 to 10 tonnes have been contracted.
Packaging material suppliers Suppliers of chick boxes, crates and cages play the important role of providing packaging materials for eggs, day-old chicks and birds to distribution points. Currently ZFRPA has three main suppliers.
Energy suppliers
Brooding is the period from hatching until supplemental heat is no longer needed and the PRPS currently has one coal supplier supplying charcoal for heating brooding fowl runs.
Fowl run owners
No of Stress Mix distributed
8 042 8 907 5 870 10 082 5 691 8 583 5 705 8 980 3 183 8 583 73 391
No of beneficiaries 9 450 12 382 31 393 10 188 12 103 11 452 12 385 9 672 4 535 11 033 124 593
ZFRPA is currently renting about 11 complexes across the country, which are the brooding sites. It has since recruited more than 90 stockmen to manage chicks in brooders.
Fabricators
Fabricators make burners for the brooding houses with two currently engaged with ZFRPA.
Infrastructure development and maintenance
ZFRPA hires skilled construction personnel such as builders, carpenters, plumbers, painters and welders who carry out infrastructure development and maintenance work.
Future Plans/Sustainability
The ZFRPA intends to increase production of day-old chicks and brooding facilities to meet the set national distribution target of between 120 000 and 180 000 chicks per month.
ZFRPA has since developed a sustainable business model and is working with producer farmers to ensure required quantities and qualities are produced as well as looking at the niche local and export markets post PFPS.
ZFRPA is conducting awareness campaigns and education of beneficiaries and participating producers on the code of practice on free range poultry production and marketing standards for Zimbabwe, which was launched in 2023 to ensure that quality free-range poultry and products meeting local and international standards are put on the market.
Last year stakeholders in the poultry sector launched the national standard on good agricultural practices (GAP) for free range poultry (road runners) production and marketing.
The standard, ZWS 1051: 2022: Code of Practice for Good Agricultural Practice for Free Range Poultry Production, was prepared and approved for publication by the Technical Committee FD 055: Meat and Meat Products under the Food Sector in 2022 to address the need.
The standard focuses on all the freerange poultry categories — chickens, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowls. It takes into consideration health consciousness and animal welfare concerns, which are now being upheld by customers and consumers in most cases.
Stakeholders’ success stories
A beneficiary of the PRPS from Goromonzi district’s Masiwa Village in Mashonaland East, Mrs Fanai Mabika said she now has a hatchery machine, sells eggs and chicks to ZFRPA from the initial 40 chicks she received.
“I got 40 chicks in 2023 and 35 survived. I was given another 100 chicks and I had to transfer some of them to a larger place at a farm in Beatrice. At the moment I have 50 chickens that are laying eggs,” she said.
Mrs Mabika bought a hatchery unit, which she is now using to hatch chicks for the local community. She is now selling chicks and eggs to the local community and with income from the poultry project, she is supplementing her pig project.
Another beneficiary from Goromonzi district’s Chibami Village in Ward 16, Mrs Tendai Matsika received 30 chicks on April 3 last year and now she has 60 birds.
“The project is supplementing my income, as I get US$6 per every crate of eggs I sell. I am now able to send my children to school,” she said.
Another player in the value chain matrix from Dema, Mrs Florence Mudadi, who supplies charcoal is on cloud nine celebrating her achievements ever since she joined the Government programme.
“I bought a stand in Dema, built a house on it and capped it up with the purchase of a 15-tonne truck,” she said.
To aid in the swift movement of the chicks and feeds, a transporter from Chitungwiza, Mr Tendai Mukeyani who uses his 10-truck truck to distribute chicks, has since moved to purchase a 1,5 tonne van for ferrying day-old chicks.
“Initially I was distributing four-weekold chicks in big boxes and feeds nationwide and with that income I bought the small 1,5 tonne van that has since replaced the big truck and focus is now on distributing day-old chicks directly to beneficiaries.
A commercial chick supplier from Shortlands Farm in Marondera, Mr Stewart Mashingaidze said he started to supply chicks in 2022 when the programme started.
Mr Mashingaidze said: “I am now into my third year in the programme. In the beginning I was supplying very small quantities on a monthly basis, which changed into a weekly routine before graduating to the current 4 000 chicks per week that I am doing.”
He boasts having diversified into various income generating activities, thanks to the programme. He has since joined the expanded goat business and even developed his farm.
Another exciting testimony comes from Chitungwiza hatcher and chick supplier,
Mrs Loina Mironga. A resident in the Riverside area, Mrs Mironga is her third year of participation in the PRPS.
“Before the programme I used to supply small amounts of road runner chicks in the community, but my greatest challenge was lack of markets. The PRPS came at the right time to establish a guaranteed market for me,” she said.
She said at the beginning of the programme she had one small hatchery unit and was supplying between 300 and 400 chicks per week to ZFRPA, which has since increased to 2 000.
“I graduated from producing chicks using one small hatchery unit that had capacity to do 1 000 eggs and have installed more incubators with capacity to process 30 000 eggs. I have installed power backup services in the form of a generator and solar, as the hatchery units do not need power disturbances,” she boasted.
Conclusion
Facts on the ground indicate that the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme has started making great impact at household level leading to the empowerment of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, ensuring food and nutrition security, eradicating poverty and contributing to the national gross domestic product (GDP). This will contribute immensely towards the Vision 2030 objectives of a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society.
Free-range chickens are the lowest hanging fruit in livestock production and the only venture where hierarchical approval system to dispose products is not required implying all women, youths, disabled and elderly can participate.