MUZARD, University of Burundi Design Climate-Resilient Technologies for Poultry Farmers

Embracing climate-resilient technologies is the latest step stakeholders in the poultry farming in Uganda have resorted to for improved productivity and profitability.

To help the farmers realise their dreams, Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MUZARDI), the University of Burundi, and Gudie Incubation Centre (GIC) in Kira Municipality have designed a model aimed at upscaling the use of climate-resilient technologies in the chicken value chain in both Uganda and Burundi.

The Managing Director of GIC, Prof. Gudula Naiga Basaza said that with the support from the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA), they are to implement the “Greening the Chicken Value Chain” initiative in the two countries.

During an interview, Prof. Basaza, revealed that through their initiative dubbed, Greening the Chicken Value Chain, they will roll out 10 well researched practices to farmers in Uganda starting this month.

“The practices include recycling poultry waste into animal feeds; recycling nutrients, and running the value chain practices on green energy like solar and briquettes,” she said.

Basaza noted that poultry farmers are going to be taught how to shift from the use of charcoal that is responsible for the destruction of thousands of acres of forests in Uganda and Burundi to climate- resilient practices.

She said that the youth are going to be trained on how to recycle the garbage they collect from their poultry farms and get briquettes which will help them reduce the expenses on charcoal and firewood.

“Instead of using charcoal in the brooders, they will use briquettes which save the energy and the environment from destruction as is the case with the use of firewood and charcoal. Research has proved that a farmer uses less briquettes in a day and throughout the night on the chicks in a brooder compared to the case when one is using charcoal,” she stressed.

She added that the initiative will also enhance competitiveness among Micro and Small Poultry Enterprises (MSEs). Under the initiatives, the organisations will also train 150,000 women in Mukono, Kampala and Wakiso districts on how to add value to the chicken products.

“The poultry value chain is crucial for the socio-economic transformation of local communities yet it’s being threatened by the unsustainable business practices,” Basaza said, adding;

“Our joint target is to raise 100m chickens at any single time in a synchronized and consistent way by the year 2030.”

According to the 2021 National Livestock Census, the national chicken flock size stood at 57.8m birds in 2021 and the number of the poultry keeping households was 5.2m.

The Director of MUZARDI, Dr. Barbara Zawedde said that the initiative will also benefit youth whose poultry ideas will be refined and converted into real businesses.

“Right now, we have sent out a call in the media, inviting youth and any other person with an idea that can boost the chicken business without affecting the environment to share with us their ideas and the best 10 will be refined through training of the owners and the top three ideas will be supported to become businesses,” Dr. Zawedde said.

She therefore said that youths from different parts of the country on Monday July 8, are going to attend a poultry cottage industry conference, a ground breaking event which is aimed at enhancing the productivity, profitability and competitiveness of the Micro and Small Enterprises by greening the poultry value chain. The conference will take place at Gudie Leisure Farm in Kira.

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