Empowering Poultry Farmers in Rural Settings

One of our KUKUSTAR representatives talks to a crowd of rural farmers on market day in Pallisa, Uganda.

In light of the upcoming 3^rd Conference on Global Animal Health entitled “Developing Global Animal Health Products to Support Food Security and Sustainability” Brentec Vaccines would like to continue to bring attention to rural farmers the work we are doing to address their animal health needs.

Earlier this year for World Veterinary Day, where the theme was Vaccination to Prevent and Protect, we wrote a piece on “Remembering Rural Poultry Farmers” because they often do not have access to vaccines or other animal health products for their animals.

In rural Africa, poultry farming is more sustainable than any other livestock and produce in most areas because the landscape, weather conditions, and food availability are more conducive to free-range poultry farming. In addition to this, the high reproductive rate and low maintenance costs, especially of chickens, make poultry farming a valuable source of income and food security, as well as a key tool for poverty alleviation.

At Brentec Vaccines Ltd, our philosophy is to do business in a manner that will transform the livelihood of rural households in Africa by delivering animal health solutions for farmers. Our first step has been the introduction of our KUKUSTAR I-2 Thermostable Newcastle Disease Vaccine in rural Uganda, which was tested and certified by the Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre (PANVAC), in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia. The vaccine is helping these farmers protect their poultry from the killer Newcastle Disease, which wipes out hundreds of thousands of birds every year and leaves poultry farmers without an income. 

We designed KUKUSTAR with these rural farmers in mind, producing a thermostable vaccine that is easier to transport to remote areas unlike other Newcastle Disease vaccines that require a cold-chain delivery system. We also make the vaccine available in smaller doses (25-30) for farmers who may have less than 20 birds and made it easy to administer through eye drops (the vaccine is sold in a dropper for the smaller doses). The vaccine, unlike others available, can be administered to all age groups, including one-day old chicks, and can be used on chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigeons, and guinea fowl. In addition, we train farmers to administer the vaccine themselves.

By focusing on rural farmers, we are choosing to address a group that has often been overlooked when designing animal health technologies. By helping these farmers become more successful, we are doing more than just saving animals, we are transforming the livelihoods of the people in their households.

One of our representatives explains the characteristics of Newcastle Disease
and how KUKUSTAR can help these farmers. 

School girls (one of which owns poultry) visit our KUKUSTAR table to learn more about vaccination
at the 21st Source of the Nile National Agricultural and Trade Show in Jinja, Uganda. 

Life after Newcastle Disease

Farmers in Iganga discussing their experiences with KUKUSTAR in 2012.

Poultry farming is based on numbers and success rate. For a rural or commercial poultry farmer, success is calculated almost entirely by numbers. Although the size and reproductive rate of the birds carry a lot of value, the number the farmer has to sell-off or breed is much more important when it comes to having a steady household income.

When Newcastle Disease (ND) hits a farmer’s flock of birds, it can be a traumatizing experience. Whether it is a commercial farmer with 3,000 birds or a local farmer with five, the devastation is still the same. For many farmers, being hit by ND and losing their birds is enough to deter them from continuing with the practice of poultry keeping. When we ask them at trade shows or other public forums if they would start again now that we have given them the information they need and access to a reliable vaccine, some farmers still shy away from the idea of starting again; it is evident that they are still haunted by the memory of their catastrophic losses. Worse yet, these farmers must look past a common saying and misconception in some communities that if you want to be poor, you venture into poultry keeping.

With our KUKUSTAR Newcastle Disease vaccine, we give the farmers access to a dependable and effective vaccine that will help them protect their poultry from this killer disease. For the rural farmer with a few birds, we offer droppers of the ready-made vaccine, sold in doses of 25-30 (one dose per bird). For the commercial farmer, we offer vials of 500 doses that must be reconstituted using spring water and then administered through drinking water.

If administered the way we designed it, which is through a single drop in one eye every three months, this vaccine gives the farmer a renewed confidence that each of their birds has been vaccinated; something they can do on their own or with the help of others. Administration through drinking water or through aerosol is more costly because it requires frequent repetition to make sure every bird has had access to its dose of the vaccine.

We need to encourage the farmers who have left the practice to return to poultry farming as a source of income. But the only way we can encourage them to do so is by showing them that they can protect their birds with a vaccine that works and is accessible.  Some of the farmers that lost their birds to ND had already vaccinated them before they died. The most likely reason is that they had used a heat-liable vaccine, which has a two-hour efficacy window at room temperature after reconstitution, and if it had fallen outside that time frame without a cooling system during delivery in the field, then any dose administered would have been ineffective. Other reasons also include, late vaccination (the birds were already sick), improper administration, and over-dilution during reconstitution of the vaccine.

Our KUKUSTAR ND vaccine is thermostable and can last for three days at room temperature without losing efficacy, which helps address the challenge of a cold-chain delivery system. In addition to this, as part of our quality assurance, we have chosen to open our own KUKUSTAR shops where farmers can buy the vaccine directly in order to ensure the quality and proper use of our vaccine up to the farmer level.

Trust is everything if we want to get these farmers back into poultry keeping, so we are choosing to lead by example and show them that the vaccine does work. We want them to know that we are taking their concerns and negative experiences seriously, and that we can make a difference.

A Trip to the Marketplace

 Iki-Iki Market Place Poultry Section.

As the sun rises early each morning in rural Uganda, hundreds of villagers make their way to their weekly local market days to purchase and sell goods. Among these travelers are rural poultry farmers and traders who go to buy and sell birds at these markets. Each market creates a different experience but its value to these villagers and farmers remains the same. We visited three marketplaces in Eastern Uganda; Iki-Iki, Pallisa, and Kanyuma. Each market was unique in its opportunities and challenges for its visitors, but the overall purpose of buying, trading and selling goods was the underlying similarity.

Our first stop was in Iki-Iki where we visited the livestock section (at a separate location) of the marketplace that was split into quadrants, one of which was specifically for poultry. The section was filled with sellers showcasing their chickens, ducks, turkeys and pigeons, and buyers looking for the perfect bird at the perfect price. Surrounding the livestock area was a wire fence, separating not only the animals into their specific sections, but also keeping the farm in an enclosed area that would allow the officials to collect dues from both parties and monitor sales more easily. Lined along the fences were bicycles with baskets on the back as well as motorcycles, which are both used for transporting the birds and must also pay a fee as well for being present.

Our next stop was the Pallisa market, which was completely different from the first. In place of wires and gates were vehicles and buildings. The market day took place on a major road in the town, with sellers setting up their stations along either side of it. We parked next to a bicycle station and soon found a designer jacket vender and a shoe vender setting up next to us. There was no defined poultry section but there was still poultry being sold, primarily chickens and pigeons. The buyers walked from one area to the next; gravitating to our car because of the music and the loudspeaker we used to educate interested bystanders about KUKUSTAR and Newcastle Disease. We finished that visit by driving around the town with the loudspeaker on, attracting buyers to come to the moving car to purchase the vaccine while also directing them to our newly opened shop around the corner.  

Our final marketplace visit was in Kanyumu. Similar to Iki-Iki, the market place was divided into sections, but not physically with fences. The poultry section was located closest to the road, which was opposite our new KUKUSTAR shop that was opening that day. We used the same approach with the loudspeaker but directed them to the store that was across the street. This poultry section also had an official monitoring sales and collecting fees from both the sellers and venders (but not for transportation vehicles), which was a much harder task for him than the ones in Iki-Iki. This was because without the fences he had to prevent unethical sales in which the buyers and sellers would leave the marketplace and make the transactions away from the official to avoid paying the market fees.

After visiting the marketplaces it was clear that despite the rural setting and the differences in goods being sold, just like any other marketplace in the world, the concern over ethical and legal transactions as well as the constant search for loopholes and shortcuts in order to beat the system do exist. The major difference is that these marketplaces serve as a central point for these villagers who have few alternatives hence increasing their value and making them the perfect place to introduce our KUKUSTAR Newcastle Disease vaccine.

Pallisa Market: Picture of car driving around town 

Pallisa Market: Picture of villagers listening to us talk about KUKUSTAR.

Kanyumu Market: Picture of salesman talking over the loudspeaker.

Kanyumu Market: Picture of the team outside our shop

 across the street from the market place.

   

World Veterinary Day (April 27) - A Message on Remembering Rural Farmers

The selected theme for the upcoming World Veterinary Day on April 27 this year is “Vaccination to prevent and protect,” highlighting the importance of vaccination not just for humans but for animals as well. However, as we talk about all the advances in the pharmaceutical industry and celebrate the protection of animals, we need to think about who has access to the vaccination services. 

In the field of poultry farming, especially in the developing world, there has been a lot of effort to reach commercial farmers and give them access to the vaccinations they need to support their businesses. However, it is now imperative that we turn our attention to rural farmers who continue to struggle to have this same privilege.

At Brentec Vaccines, our philosophy is to do business in a manner that will transform the livelihood of rural households in Africa by delivering animal health solutions for farmers. Our first step is with rural poultry farmers, manufacturing our KUKUSTAR I-2 Thermostable Newcastle Disease Vaccine that will help them protect their poultry from a killer disease that wipes out thousands of birds every year. We designed KUKUSTAR with these farmers in mind, producing a thermostable vaccine that it is easier to transport to remote areas unlike other Newcastle Disease vaccines that require a cold chain delivery system.

We chose to address a marginalized group that has been overlooked in the fight to “prevent and to protect.” Rural poultry farming is real. The farmers are real. Their goals and challenges are real. Therefore it is our responsibility to give them the opportunity to acquire the vaccines they need to be successful. So as we discuss vaccination and celebrate this important day, let us please remember that purchasing vaccinations, even in the animal world, should be a choice and not a privilege. Rural farmers should have this choice. 


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How to Outsmart A Rooster (Breeding Poultry in Rural Africa)

 

Chickens at the home of a client that were vaccinated with KUKUSTAR.

Much like human beings, inbreeding can be a concern in poultry farming, especially with rural poultry farmers who only have a small number of birds to start with. For this reason, introducing new bloodlines from new roosters to the breeding process is important because although it is not as taboo as human inbreeding, the problems are still the same with poultry.

There are mixed feelings towards inbreeding in animals because although it may have negative effects if done in an uncontrolled environment, there are also positive ones when it is done systematically. Inbreeding or in this case poultry line breeding, which is the selective breeding of birds for a desired feature or characteristic by mating them within a closely related line, allows a controlled environment in which you can produce the best birds without any undesirable genes. By introducing new bloodlines to this group of birds, you would make them vulnerable to potentially harmful genes.

This type of breeding may work with big poultry breeders who have the ability to monitor this method of breeding. However, in rural Africa, such technology, information, and education is not available to poultry farmers so it would be too risky a practice. Therefore, outcrossing (where the two parents are unrelated) becomes a necessary precaution for these farmers after three to four generations of breeding these birds.

For this reason, these rural poultry farmers need to either sell off their roosters and buy new ones, or trade their roosters with neighboring farmers every one and a half years to help prevent their birds from having any problems. The more common practice has become trading their birds. Now as simple as this may sound in theory, it is far from simple when it comes to executing it. This is unless you are trading these birds with households that are several kilometers away.

Roosters (or chickens in general) are smarter than we give them credit for and believe it or not, actually have a pretty good memory and sense of direction when it comes to their homestead and coop, especially when trained. So, when trading a rooster with your neighbor, there are certain things that need to happen. The first is that the neighbor cannot live next door. The obvious reason is that when the rooster sees or hears any bird from its previous flock, it will return to this flock and its original home at the end of the day. The second thing is that the bird is taken at night so that it goes straight into roosting and does not have the freedom to wonder back by following the farmer back to his or her homestead. It also has poor vision at night. The third act is that the bird be blindfolded (although they have poor night vision this is an extra precaution) because chickens have a good hearing sense when it comes to motion and detail so it is able to trace its path back home.

In short, breeding poultry even in rural Africa is a systematic process that requires communication, organization, observation and planning even without higher levels of education (post-primary school) and complex technology. Word-of-mouth education and information, as well as a passion for farming and a keen observation of your flock, can make a top-notch poultry farmer despite having limited resources. 

Chickens feeding during the day.

The Truth About Rural Poultry Farmers in Uganda

Brentec Vaccines' Director speaking with farmers in Wakiso, Uganda.

In recent experiences and trips with the Brentec Vaccines team, what has come to our attention is that there is a common yet forgivable misconception that we need to save poultry farmers and help them value the art of poultry farming. However, what we continue to learn is quite the opposite.

It first became apparent on our visit to Aviana Uganda; a Poultry and Livestock Expo that took place in November 2012. We spoke with poultry famers that had traveled from far and wide to learn more about better practices, products, services, medicines, and vaccinations available for their poultry and livestock. Their attendance on its own was a huge indicator that these farmers are well aware that poultry farming could provide them with a ticket out of poverty. They just need to do it properly.

The average poultry farmer is more knowledgeable, dedicated, and passionate about their birds and poultry farming than you would realize. They do the research, they know their birds well enough to make observations about their well-being, and they are willing to invest whatever they can to ensure the survival of their birds and to improve their success as farmers.

These farmers have used a range of products and they have developed an understanding of what works and what doesn’t, what their limitations are and, most importantly, what they need to do. The solutions to their challenges will come from them sharing their experiences, and not from others deciding for them. These rural poultry farmers are a very strong and capable group that often loses their voice in the chaos and noise of the middlemen. However, through all this their message to us is very clear. What we have come to learn through numerous conversations with these farmers is that they have long awaited a vaccine for Newcastle Disease that was more accessible to them, and they say that KUKUSTAR is what they have been looking for.

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