The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Nakaseke, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Poultry farmers have been urged to embrace modern brooding practices to minimize chick mortality and financial losses. In Uganda, research shows that at least five percent of chicks die during brooding, leading to significant losses for farmers.
The main causes of chick mortality include poor management, feed poisoning, and overcrowding, among other factors. However, at Kande Poultry Farm, located in Kikondo village near Semuto Town Council in Nakaseke District, the losses incurred from chick mortality have been significantly reduced to between 0% and 1.5% after the installation of a state-of-the-art cage system.
Kande Poultry Farm, situated on a 21-acre piece of land, began operations in 2015 with 2,000 chicks. Since then, it has expanded to 110,000 chickens under a state-of-the-art cage system. Rosemary Namayanja Nsereko the Director of Kande Poultry explains that the major cause of chicks mortality is farmers using old methods that include charcoal stoves where chicks overcrowd and die while struggling to get heat.
Namayanja added that other chicks are also overcrowded while struggling for food and poor sanitation in the brooders. Namayanja said they have minimized the chick’s deaths by installing automated brooders with a capacity of 40,000 birds each where heat is controlled and good sanitation practices are maintained.
She also tipped poultry farmers to prioritize good breeding, nutrition, and proper chicken if they were to benefit from the business. Namayanja said because they mastered these standard practices, the farm has been able to acquire international food safety certification and be able to sell eggs to UN agencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Namayanja who is Deputy Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement said this on Sunday while hosting Seventh Day Adventists Church Billionaire Celestial Club which paid a visit to the farm on a benchmarking tour.
Emmanuel Obwori the Operational Manager of Kande Poultry Farm said most farmers incur losses because chicks die out of preventable diseases because of inadequate vaccination practices during brooding. Obwori advised farmers to seek out modern brooding poultry farmers and for them to concentrate on rearing chicks thereafter.
James Kayita the Chairperson of Seventh Day Adventists Billionaire Celestial Club said several farmers are incurring losses because they lack knowledge of modern practices. Kayita said that from the farm, they have seen these practices are possible if you are ready to take on a poultry farm as a corporate business.
In 2021, the chicken population was 57.8 million, an increase of 54.5 percent from 37.4 million chickens reported in 2008. Indigenous chicken constituted 69.9 percent while exotic/cross breed represented 30.1 percent.
*****
URN
