A total of 20 poultry farmers has been supported by the Livestock Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) to boost their farm productivity.
Funded under the Covid-19 livelihood Sector preparedness and response programme, through its Livestock Department, the assistance is expected to increase production of poultry meat and eggs locally in preparation for any possible future Covid-19 lockdown.
MAL, Principal Livestock officer, Eddie Wainuni said, of the 20 project recipients, 10 are broiler farmers and the other 10 are layer farmers with a majority of 12 are those resides in Honiara City and eight (8) are farmers from Guadalcanal province.
“In order for a farmer to acquire such support, livestock officers must first conduct an assessment to verify whether that farmer is a genuine one, has already raised livestock, access to market outlets, access to supplier for stock and feed and have some knowledge on raising poultry,” Mr. Wainuni explained.
“This is a MAL ongoing support programme managed by the Livestock Department. The level of support is based on approved funding.
“These funding is from the 2019 program being delayed due to cash flow. So for this, it is the first delivery. The second delivery under the project will be carried out in due course for 50 more local chicken farmers.
“Flight restrictions due to the COVID-19 impacted greatly on availability of chicks in the country,” he added.
The project support include Stockfeed with feeding and drinking equipments.
These successful farmers will collect their day old chicks, stockfeed and equipments from Vuvula Poultry Limited.
Source: Press Release MAL