WPF training videos help Africa’s poultry farmers manage for success

The US-based World Poultry Foundation (WPF) has released a series of training videos to help Africa’s poultry farmers become more profitable through more effective record keeping and proper vaccination.

The WPF, which has actively supported emerging poultry farmers for several years, says it has found through its engagements with start-up and informal poultry farmers that many neglect basic record keeping. “This means farmers may lose track of bird weight and production costs, or they incur excessive feed costs and bird mortality, and are therefore not as profitable as they should be,” says WPF CEO Randall Ennis.

While most day-old chicks are vaccinated at the hatchery prior to sale, farmers will likely need to provide booster vaccinations to prevent certain diseases.  The vaccination video provides guidance to brooder units on how to administer such booster vaccines.

Aiming to empower emerging poultry farmers, particularly women farmers, WPF has compiled its series of training videos to help them apply poultry farming best practice to achieve healthier birds, better profits and enhanced nutrition for themselves and their families. 

WPF’s training series, with two of the eleven videos dedicated to management and recordkeeping, explains why written records are crucial for proper farm management and profitability, what records should be kept, and how regularly they should be updated. The videos also outline how to properly weigh new chicks and ensure proper weight gain and good health in poultry.

The training videos, as well as free checklists, worksheets and sample profit and loss statements, are available here

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Issued by ITP Communications on behalf of the World Poultry Foundation. For further information or please contact Leigh Angelo or Kabelo Phalane at leigh@tradeprojects.co.za or kabelo@tradeprojects.co.za

About the World Poultry Foundation

Formerly known as the USAPEEC International Poultry Development Program (UIPDP), the World Poultry Foundation works to promote economic development in distressed areas and emerging markets outside of the United States by helping to establish the production, availability, and ultimately consumption of a low cost, highly efficient and nutritious protein that poultry can provide. This will be accomplished by providing technical, educational, and any other assistance needed to foster the development of the local poultry and egg industries. The World Poultry Foundation will seek to cooperate and partner with other like-minded foundations, organizations, and governments by assisting them in projects that advance the charitable purposes of the Foundation.

UIPDP was created in 1997 from an opportunity to assist the fledgling Russian poultry industry. Funds from the U.S. government and the poultry industry were leveraged to enter into a joint venture partnership with a Russian broiler production facility. Elinar Broiler was created out of this partnership. After the sale of UIPDP’s shares back to Elinar in 2006, it was agreed that proceeds would be used for charitable purposes outside the U.S. to assist other poultry industries around the world. In 2015, UIPDP was re-named the World Poultry Foundation and restructured to reflect a broader mission for its work yet focusing on the economic development of emerging markets through direct involvement with local industries and farmers.