The K5 million hatchery (white building) 
Inside the hatchery. The eggs are stored in the green trays 
(From L-R) Yangoru-Saussia MP Richard Maru, PNG Poulty Industry Association President Chris Prestwood and Sepik Fresh Farm Manager Moran Peter 
Two weeks old chickens 
The chicken shed at Kiniambo village 
Few of the 300 people working with Joshua Jinganiea to trial the commercial chicken farming at Kiniambo village
By MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO
TEN local farmers in the Yangoru-Saussia District of East Sepik are now trialing the commercial chicken farming project under the district’s Chicken Outgrower Program.
The day-old chicks were supplied to the farmers from the new K5 million hatchery at Sepik Fresh in Huaripmo that has the capacity to hold about 60, 000 eggs and can hatch 6, 000 eggs a week.
“We arranged for ten commercial farmers to be supplied day-old chicks from the hatchery and they will basically breed the chicken from a day-old until they are 6 weeks old and fat enough to be slaughtered here in the slaughter house,” said Yangoru-Saussia MP Richard Maru.
“Unlike other chicken farms in the country, in this particular farm, the district desires that the chickens must be raised by the local people through what we call the Chicken Outgrower Program.
“We only want the farm to have the minimum number of chickens and the bulk of it should be grown by the farmers so in that way this project will have a lasting benefit to the farmers and it should be a major business opportunity for the people of Yangoru-Saussia,” he said.
Ten commercial farmers who are trialing the project were supplied 300 day-old chicks each to start off with.
The chicks were supplied to them three weeks ago after the first 5000 eggs were hatched at the hatchery.
“We have been following up with them, recording everything that is happening, guiding the farmers on how to raise them (the chickens) in the right conditions and to make sure that everything is done properly,” said the Sepik Fresh Farm Manager Moran Peter.
“After 6 weeks, they (the farmers) will bring them (the chickens) back to the farm for us to buy them and process them in the slaughter house,” said Peter.
“If the locals are going to bring good results then we will raise the amount of chickens to supply to them.
“Right now, we are encouraging them to work hard and so far, everything is going well; the farmers are very involved and they are taking it seriously,” he said.
One of the ten farmers, Joshua Jinganiea from Kiniambo village who has a chicken shed to cater for 10, 000 chickens had engaged 300 people from his community to work with him in this project.
“The reason is that I do not want not be selfish.
“I would want 5000 day-old chicks for next round so I can support these 300 people,” said Jinganiea.
“Thank you my Member for the great opportunity that you have given to us.
“I am very happy for this project because it will give me a big income and will also have a very good impact to the people in my village and also in the district,” he said
Maru was impressed by Jinganiea’s initiative to engage the members of his community to work with him at his chicken shed.
“He is engaging the community; it is taking ownership and that’s a good thing.
“I am very impressed with what he is doing.
“If he does well then there is nothing stopping him from going on.
“This is grassland; they can put up more sheds here and it is going to be a big operation for the community,” he said.
Jinganiea said since they had a canvas shed, his team had to work extra hard to make sure the chickens could survive the heat and also to make sure that no thieves could cut the canvas and get into the shed to steal the chickens.
Maru, in response explained that they had the opportunity to bring in galvanized shed but the cost was four times as much.
“We could have easily gone for the steel ones but they are very expensive and most people in the village would not be able to afford it.
“We opted to bring this one (canvas shed brought in from China) in to bring the cost down so the farmers can afford to get the loan.
“For me the key thing is whether the chickens survive in this shed and if they do for 6 weeks and they are fat enough then we know that this shed is fine then we can get more chickens in.
“If it does well with 300 then they will go up a thousand, two thousand till they fill up the shed with 10, 000 chickens,” he said.
Maru said the reason why they were doing the trial was purposely for that- to see if the shed would work.
“We have to make sure that the chickens survive in the new sheds and if the motility rate is low then we will be successful so we can ramp up the number of chickens that we give them (the farmers) and the volumes that we produce at the hatchery,” said Maru.
“We want to make sure that it is going to work first before we put more and more chicken in.
“The last thing we can do is put more chicken in and they all die so we just have to be sure about this,” he said.
The farmers had obtained a loan from People’s Micro Bank to meet the capital to get into the Chicken Outgrower Program.
“The DDA is giving the guarantee for the loan under the Credit Scheme,” said Maru.
“After 6 weeks, when the farmers sell the chickens back to the farm, they (the farm) will deduct the loan repayment portion from their sales price; so basically, half goes to the bank and half goes to them (the farmers).
“The loan should be paid off within two years and after that everything they earn from selling the chickens goes to them,” he said.
So far, the trial is going well as the chickens are now four weeks old.
Maru said he was happy that they had finally started the Chicken Outgrower Program.
Maru added that if all goes well with the trial, they would stock up all the chicken sheds according to their full capacity and go into phase two which is to take more farmers on board.
“The hatchery then should start producing day-old chicks not only for our farms in the district but for the rest of East Sepik, West Sepik, Madang and the rest of the country,” he said.
“The country is always short of day-old chicks,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sepik Fresh continues to sell eggs to the locals and the supermarkets in the province.
“It’s going big now; we are selling 40 cartons a day and we have customers waiting to purchase,” said Peter.
“We have 10, 000 layers and they lay up to about 9, 500 eggs a day.
“Everything we produce sells out straightaway, fresh and nice,” he said
“Every time we sell, we are reducing the number of eggs being imported,” he added.
The farm had also started its first slaughtering of chickens last week with 280 chickens slaughtered.
“Egg is a product, chicken meat is a product, and the day-old chicks is another product for the company,” said Peter.
“Three different products would be coming out from here by the time they are able to ramp up,” he said.
Peter said they are currently working towards opening a new shop in town to sell their products (the eggs, chicken meat, day-old chicks and more products from the Innovative Agro Industry).
The President of the Papua New Guinea Poultry Industry Association (PIA), Chris Prestwood commented that Chicken Outgrower Program was tremendous and he said that PIA was excited to support it.
“As we are fighting at the moment to ensure that the country can produce enough chickens and meet the growing demand of chicken, it’s really great to see a project like this come on to help face the challenges,” he said.
Pictures by PAU UKUMA
