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backyard A case study by women SHG members
During the year 2003-04 the project supported 50 households at Sugur Village. We have selected two poultry families from the list of 50 households on a random basis to get personal insights in to the actual situation/status of the households, where MYRADA introduced the backyard poultry to support the livelihoods of the poor in Sugur Village. Imabi w/o Masthan Saradagi Mr.Kalyanashetty, Mr. Umesh and Mr. Jangal had a brief interaction with Mrs. Imabi in her house. This family is a landless laborers family mainly depending upon the local labour works be it agriculture, watershed, public works etc. There are 5 members in the family including her husband and three daughters. One daughter is helping the family's income by going in for labour work in the watershed along with her father. Some times Mrs.Imabi also goes for cooly work. They live in a kutcha house and own one heifer and one cow. Mrs. Imabi said that they have received 9 hens and a cock about 4 months ago with the support of MYRADA and the VDS. She estimates that the cost of these birds would be about Rs.1000/- She said already one hen started laying eggs, which she kept to hatch and got 11 chicks. However, but of these 11 chick she lost 6, which were eaten by a mongoose. She also started receiving eggs from other hens during summer, which were consumed by the family. This is because eggs cannot be kept to hatch during summer as the weather is too hot and hatching is only possible during the cooler months. She estimates that each hen will lay a minimum of 10 -15 eggs and she could get about 135 eggs from 10 hens during the cool months from which about 100 chicks can be produced. If these chicks are reared for 6 months, each one can be sold for Rs.50-60/- and about Rs.5000/- could be earned. Each egg could be sold @ Rs.1.50 during summer and Rs.2/- during the rainy season/cool months. During the discussions, I came to know that she requires certain knowledge on disease management. If one has to objectively measure the impact of the programme, at least two-three families have to be monitored and the information/data on various aspects collected for two years to enable analysis and learning. Also, I felt that there is potential to explore organized marketing of hens by supporting two to three families to undertake a micro enterprise on the one hand and on the other the families could sell the hens (disease free chicken with a label certified by the local doctor) at a premium price which can be sold in the hotels at Gulbarga and other nearby towns. It was further discussed with the staff of MYRADA to organize a learning/sharing event with all the women who rear backyard poultry to generate their own ideas and share their experiences among themselves and bring out the requirements for support from the project. |
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