Since 2016, the World Poultry Foundation has been involved in developing and implementing a unique program called the African Poultry Multiplication Initiative.
“Our African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI) is tailored to suit the unique conditions of each country we operate in. For example, in The Gambia, there is currently no operational hatchery. This meant we couldn’t place a parent stock flock to produce hatching eggs until the hatchery construction was finished. In order to train our partner staff and Field Service Representatives in dual-purpose poultry management and introduce the new breed to the market while we construct the G Farms hatchery, we’ve adopted an approach of importing chicks into The Gambia. While this approach differs from our practices in other countries, it allows us to gain early momentum and gradually increase our impact over the project’s five-year implementation period. The APMI program in The Gambia and Sierra Leone is generously funded by the @qatarfundfordevelopment’’. Said the World Poultry Foundation.
Increasing Poultry Production and Productivity
By increasing access to improved low-input dual-purpose breeds that have been properly brooded, fed, and vaccinated; the APMI strives to increase productivity by at least 200% when compared to the local indigenous breeds.
Provide Sustainability
The APMI program is a long-term sustainable business model designed in a manner by which the providers of day-old chicks, feed manufacturers, brooders, and small-scale farmers receive their income from producing and selling poultry and eggs through the marketplace. The APMI is set up as a complete value chain whereby all participants realize a profit. Our theory of change is that the program will continue and grow after the WPF funding ceases by setting up a system whereby no birds are given away or subsidized.
Empowering Women
The goal of the APMI is to establish poultry enterprises primarily managed and operated by women. By enabling women’s collective action in poultry development and providing access to quality poultry inputs, the APMI should lead to increased women’s participation in poultry-related decisions and control over poultry-related assets. With time, this should enhance the status of women at the household and community level and lead to a positive spillover for women’s empowerment and gender parity more broadly. Our theory of change is that by providing access to low-input dual-purpose birds, women will create agency initiatives to increase their decision-making power in the household.
