Learning To Raise Chickens: for Food Security & Self-reliance
Amid the dryland conditions and limited food resources in Manikaji, simple learning can make a meaningful difference to families. Through EBPP’s dryland regenerative agricultural programme, the Manikaji farmer groups started learning today to raise chickens as a practical way to improve access to protein and essential nutrients while building greater household food self-reliance.
The training was led by Pak Priyatna, an experienced poultry farmer and EBPP expert poultry volunteer. The participants learned not only how to feed and care for chickens, but also the importance of maintaining clean poultry shelters, preparing nutritious feed, identifying common diseases, preventing illness, and responding appropriately when chickens become sick. This practical knowledge provides an important foundation for families to manage their own poultry sustainably and independently.
The chicken breed introduced is the Elba chicken, which can begin laying eggs earlier and has a larger body size than the local chickens commonly raised by farmers. Elba chickens also adapt well to hot environmental conditions such as those found in Manikaji.
The three farmers’ groups each received 16 chickens as the starting point, for their learning and breeding activities in their recently completed chicken pens. As the chickens reproduce, their baby chicks will be distributed among the farmers’ group members to be raised at their respective farms. In this way, the benefits of the programme can gradually spread from one family to another.
For EBPP, this activity is about much more than raising chickens. It is a process of building knowledge, better nutrition, food security and community self-reliance—helping families produce nutritious food using the knowledge and resources they have recently acquired.
By Komang Kurniawan, EBPP Chairman & Team Leader
Comments