Decentralised Poultry

Over the years PRADAN has perfected a model for helping poor families take up broiler poultry rearing in small lots of 300-400 birds. The families in an area are collectivised to form a producer co-operative / producer company. This producer institution procures inputs in bulk thereby helping producers to attain economies of scale, provides marketing linkages, and buffers the member families from the price fluctuations in the market. These institutions also provide veterinary support services, production monitoring and handholding support. On an average a family is able rear 5 batches in a year, and the additional earnings are in the range of Rs. 8-10,000. Similar interventions have been done in 5 other districts of Jharkhand and 6 other districts of MP, Chattisgarh, and Orissa.

In Jharkhand, the potential of this activity has been demonstrated with about 2500 families during the last phase of the project. 6 primary producer’s co-operative and a state level federation of women poultry growers are already functional in the state to support member families. Currently, these co-operatives are meeting all their operational costs from the profits of the business in addition to ensuring a net annual earning of Rs. 8-10,000 for individual producers. The significant incomes being earned by the participating families have created a demand for this activity in the project area, which is proposed to be supported by this project. Grant funds will be used to partially subsidize the construction of rearing shed and equipments and for capacity building of the participating families. Credit support will be mobilised from banks under this project.