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Noble Ncube, Farming Reporter
A NON-GOVERNMENTAl Organisation, the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (Orap) has partnered with a micro-finance institution, Big Grape Holdings to initiate broiler chicken projects in Insiza District, Matabeleland South Province to enable beneficiaries to generate income and alleviate hunger.
The poultry project was initiated in wards 17 and 18 in Filabusi Village’s Nkankezi area in August and its being run under the theme: “Inkuthazo kazenzele”.
Orap chief executive officer Mrs Mvuselelo Huni said the poultry project was part of the organisation’s thrust of encouraging self-reliant developments among rural people.
“This initiative will make rural people to be aware of their needs, development problems and how to overcome these problems through self-help. We encourage rural people to engage in income generating projects for self-employment.
“The project by Big Grape is unheard of and it is a big idea. We looked at that and we considered that it is beneficiary to the community. We have worked with a lot of people and we foster community development in all aspects of everyday livelihoods,” she said.
Beneficiaries of the poultry project grouped themselves into five cooperatives and are expected to construct fowl runs to accommodate up to 2 000 chickens. Construction material, day-old chicks and feed are being supplied by Big Grape through a six-month loan facility, which entails the villagers to make repayments after every six weeks (expected maturity period of chickens) through profits realised from selling their birds.
The micro-finance institution also facilitates training of beneficiaries in broiler rearing as well as linking and identifying potential markets for them.
Mrs Huni said plans were underway to spread the poultry project in all the areas at which Orap operates.
Orap was registered in 1981 as a welfare (charitable) organisation dedicated to the promotion of rural development from the perspective of grassroots communities in Zimbabwe. Today it boasts of a membership of 1,5 million people.
Big Grape director Mr John Bera said the villagers should not only view the project as a profit making venture but embrace it to develop their communities.
“Our partnership with Orap is going to see us being able to reach out to a lot of people in Matabeleland because of Orap’s connectivity in the region. We also believe in social entrepreneurship.
“We have trained these poultry farmers to be trainers as well. We want this community to be a large producer of chickens in the Matabeleland region and we will continue to assist the farmers with marketing of their produce,” Mr Bera said.
He said the company engaged Orap because of its connection in rural areas and hinted that the micro-finance target the rural folk as it had interests in seeking opportunities that exist in agro-based projects.
“As a result of the pressure of our economy we realised that lending loans to individuals and small businesses was not sustainable. So we expanded into agro-based projects because they are viable and this enabled us to have a secure lending bond with farmers. We give infrastructure loans of $3 000 to those interested in poultry farming. We are creating a market capacity for us to produce and sell chickens on a large scale,” Mr Bera said.
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Bongani Ndlovu