Samburu women venture into poultry farming to beat malnutrition, poverty

Photo credit: Jacob Walter | Nation Media Group

Women in Samburu have turned to poultry farming to beat poverty and malnutrition in the area where a cattle rustling culture thrives.

The semi-arid Samburu County is known for pastoralism and many locals have in the past lost their herds to vicious cattle rustlers and prolonged drought.

When locusts descended on farms and pasturelands, their hopes were dashed as the pests devoured crops and pasture, prompting them to start backyard poultry farming.

The women's groups, mostly registered under the Women's Enterprise Fund, started poultry keeping and their success has attracted interest from other residents, who also want to take up the initiative.

“Animals’ security is a big challenge here. We decided to keep chicken because they are rarely targeted by raiders," says Florence Leparie, a farmer.

Women's Enterprise Fund offered loans and the groups decided to venture into poultry farming, which is rarely practised in Samburu. In Samburu, ancient social and cultural norms have never allowed women to rear or consume  chicken, meat or eggs.

The chickens include both broilers and layers. Every member of the group is encouraged to rear chicken on her farm.

A group of Samburu women during the learning session in Loikas village, Maralal town. They have turned to poultry farming to beat poverty, malnutrition and cattle rustling.

Photo credit: Jacob Walter | Nation Media Group

Growing vegetables

Dominic Lesimale, Samburu Women's Enterprise Fund constituency officer, says that human encroachment on grazing fields, frequent droughts and cattle rustling have made pastoralism less attractive in Samburu, and brought about the need for alternatives.

“We encouraged Samburu women to look for long-term alternative livelihoods to livestock. They are practising some activities such as horticulture and poultry farming as an alternative to pastoralism,” Mr Lesimale said, adding that poultry farming is an emerging activity in the area that will boost nutrition and income for women.

Several women have started to attend learning sessions organised by Women's Enterprise Fund, Maralal office.

The women, who currently focus on rearing livestock and growing vegetables, expressed their interest in exploring opportunities to start a poultry farming enterprise to diversify their income streams.

During the learning event, the participants learnt more about the economic opportunities and key aspects of poultry farming, including feeding, housing and disease control.

“When starting a poultry enterprise, it is essential to gather practical knowledge and information from experts or individual producers”, explains Mr Francis Lokuruka, an expert.

Poultry farming is a livelihood activity that can provide additional income when starting small and which can grow into a serious commercial enterprise over time.

Mr Lokuruka encouraged the women to go into poultry rearing. He said poultry farming is easy for women to initiate in their households (manyattas) to meet nutritional demands of their families and make some money.

In Samburu County, women are less involved in the entrepreneurial value chain.

During the event, the women entrepreneurs had the opportunity to increase their technical knowledge in poultry farming aspects, including feeding, housing and disease control.