| Improving
Household Welfare in Rakai District by Improving
Indigenous Chicken Production through Programmed
Hatching and Cockerel Exchange Program |
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| Nabojji
Julliet of the Tukorerewamu development
group of Rakai feeding the chicken brood.
The group name means "working together”. |
The project
entitled “Improving Household Welfare in Rakai
District by Improving Indigenous Chicken Production
through Programmed Hatching and Cockerel Exchange
Program” ran from May 2003- April 2005 and
a consolidation phase granted in 2006 for one year.
The overall objective of the project was to contribute
to poverty alleviation among the subsistence farmers,
especially women and orphanage farmers in 2 sub
Counties of Lwanda and Ddwaniro in Rakai District.
The project was implemented by community integrated
Development Initiatives ( CIDI) in collaboration
with Makerere University, INCHORET, and St Jude’s,
local government with funding from FARM-Africa through
the Maendeleo Agriculture Technology Fund.
The project targeted 400 resource poor direct beneficiaries,
organized into 20 groups and trained in modern poultry
management practices.
CIDI worked with her partners and community farmers
and have managed to improve upon local chicken through
the technology of programmed hatching of local chicks,
improved cockerel exchange and selective breeding
and better management.
The programmed hatching technology synchronizes
birds to hatch on a particular day of the week.
This is vital for quick multiplication of birds
as well as facilitating their management. The Programmed
hatching was coupled with selective breeding of
indigenous chicken that were improved upon by simple
cross breeding with improved commercial cockerels
for meat or eggs. First, selected Indigenous hens
were crossed with improved layer cocks to produce
Rakai line 1 (R1) that were good egg producers.
These were crossed with improved commercial broiler
cocks to produce an R2 line which were both good
egg and meat producers. The R2 hens were crossed
with selected indigenous cocks to produce an R3
line. This is expected to be a more stable bird
that is resistant to diseases, yet a high yielding
dual-purpose bird called the “Rakai chicken”.
The farmers were trained in good poultry husbandry
practices such as brooding techniques, nutrition,
housing and disease control and capacity building
for farmers groups to undertake their developments.
The Rakai Chicken Breeders Association (RCBA) was
formed by farmers to facilitate purchase and mixing
of feeds, sales of eggs, and supply of other inputs
for poultry keeping at village level.
The breeding program can be summarized as follows:
For more details contact The Executive Director
through e-mail: cidi_ug@yahoo.com
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