Powerhive Kuku Poa Project aims to solarize poultry production and create new opportunities for small holder farmers in Kenya.
The poultry industry in Kenya is dominated by large-scale production companies. For most small-scale farmers poultry production remains a subsistence activity. Even if commercial poultry off-takers (purchaser of product) were interested in supporting smallholder farmers, local brooders would be unable to fulfil their requirements without a reliable energy source along the value chain. Powerhive has seen this gap as an opportunity to create viable offtakes from small-scale, regulated producers powered by renewable energy.
In order to support rural farmers, commercial off-takers of poultry supplies are exploring ways to purchase from rural farmers while still ensuring the quality of the chickens purchased, which requires reliable energy at every stage of the value chain. Powerhive’s Kuku Poa project will not only deploy renewable energy solutions to modernise the entire small-scale poultry production process— from the hatching of the egg through to the rearing of the chicken – it will also create partnerships with financial and input suppliers, as well as commercial buyers to integrate small-scale farmers into the mainstream poultry market.
Powerhive has also established partnerships with companies such as Sigma Feeds and Insinya to ensure farmers can secure high quality inputs such as chicks and feed; as well as connecting farmers to a financial services provider that will extend the credit they need to purchase the inputs. The company is also facilitating the training of chicken brooders, monitoring poultry processing, and guaranteeing the sale of mature chickens. Through their participation in this project, small-scale rural brooders will see a significant boost to their quality of life as it has the potential to triple their income. This improvement in income will, in turn, benefit their families and local rural economies.
Read more about Powerhive and Kuku Poa: powerhive.com/about/