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The enthusiasm of the learners is palpable. Mrs. Florence Ngcem stands up and states, “All the time we have had these chickens around us but we did not realise how important and useful they were!”. This was during the formal course associated with the start of the project initiated in the uMzimkhulu area to improve the productivity of the local village/traditional/Zulu chickens.
The course was held at the training facilities of the KwaZulu-Natal Poultry Institute (KZNPI). Dr. May Mkhize, the Provincial Premier’s wife, attended the closing ceremony of the course and gave out the certificates to the participants.
The project is a collaboration between the KZNPI and Dr. Ed Wethli, a consultant with a long experience in rural and peri-urban small farmer development. ABSA Bank kindly provided the funds needed to carry out such a project. Fourteen families in four areas around uMzimkhulu (Hopewell, Clydesdale, Ntlambasoka and White City) are taking part in the project. The aim is to produce enough chickens so that the participating families can eat one a week and still have some to sell. |
There should also be more eggs for household consumption and sale. A one-day workshop on the keeping of suitable records has also taken place and a Farmers’ Day, midway through the project, will be held where the project participants can share experiences and learn from one another. A prize will be given to the most improved chicken farmer. Members of the Church Agricultural Projects (CAP) who have already been involved for some years in a similar project in the Msinga area will be invited to participate in the Farmers’ Day.
Mr. Zweliphi Sithole, an Extension Officer with the Department of Agriculture at uMzimkhulu, is providing invaluable assistance. He has a vast experience in the area and, in 1997, successfully completed the five-month Poultry Management course at the KZNPI. This is a pilot project. It is hoped that its success will enable this project to expand, and other similar projects to start in other parts of the province, as well as the rest of the country. It should fit in well with the KZN Provincial Programme entitled “One home, one garden, one sloek (chicken hok/pen)”. In reality the project is already a success: the participants have had their minds opened to looking at their chickens in a different light and to various ways of managing their chicken production differently, but within the overall context of the existing system. Chicken pens where the chickens can sleep at night are in the process of being built. This is already a great improvement.
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