Day old chicks arriving in Mzuzu

Malawi Fruits has always concentrated on growing crops and, latterly, we have been specialising in horticulture. However, we have been keeping chickens at our office for the last couple of years and our experience with them has highlighted a glaring need in the Northern Region. Poultry farmers in the north of the country have to buy their day-old chicks from one of two suppliers in the country – one in Lilongwe (230 miles) and the other in Blantyre (350 miles). The newly hatched chicks are packed in boxes and put on a lorry for a long, arduous journey and about 30% of them don’t survive. As well as being an animal welfare issue, it is also a significant economic disadvantage for poultry farmers in the north.

All this is about to change! We are delighted that we have won the financial backing of EEP Africa (the Energy and Environment Partnership) to set up a commercial breeding, incubation and hatchery unit to serve the needs of poultry farmers in the Northern Region, and to stimulate new poultry businesses. The total funding is considerable – around £300,000 – and much of this comes from the governments of the Nordic countries. EEP is concerned with enabling new businesses through the provision of renewable energy and that is so relevant to this project. Incubators and hatcheries need 24/7 power and, in Malawi, this is only possible through setting up your own mini grid, in this case, with a solar/battery power supply.

This is another significant step for us in our mission to solve farming problems through modern technology and empower farmers to run viable businesses to increase their household incomes. The plan is to hatch both broilers and layers and we are aiming for 1500 chicks every day – well over half a million per year!

Farmers will have a steady supply of healthy chicks which they raise for sale or to produce eggs

We spent today measuring and planning at Rumphi where we have a small office and a chill store, and this is where the new hatchery will be built. It’s best practice (and a Malawi Regulation) that the breeding stock has to be kept elsewhere, so these hens will be cared for on our farm near Ekwendeni before the fertilised eggs are brought to Rumphi for hatching.

We are excited and somewhat daunted by this latest project and it is so encouraging to win the support of international partners for work like this.