Tarsila Kunda Mashelle was identified early in the ongoing U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Food for Progress program in Tanzania as a poultry producer who could benefit from one-on-one training. Just over a year later, this outreach has paid off in concrete results. She has already made many improvements in her flock management techniques and grown her flock to include 6,000 layers that are overseen by four staff members.
“She started her farm in 2011 with two staff and 1,000 chicks,� said USGC Manager of Global Development Programs Anne Zaczek. “In just one year of discussions and training, our USGC Consultant Bonny Ishengoma has advised her how to upgrade her watering systems, improve her disinfection methods, implement new beak trimming timing and improve her feed and water management. All of these things are key to expanding her farm’s production capacity.�
Even with these improvements, Mashelle says there are still five main challenges in growing her business. These include:
- lack of knowledge;
- lack of technology;
- instability of the market;
- lack of proper financial institutions; and
- availability of quality and reasonably priced equipment.
To help her overcome those challenges, the Council invited Mashelle to travel to South Africa with two other farmers at the end of last month for a USGC-sponsored training. During this time, the group learned about housing sanitation; advanced production practices; egg collection and storage techniques; proper farm planning and layout; cage arrangement; the importance of data recording and statistics; and timing of farm practices.
Upon returning from the training program in South Africa, Mashelle said the trip would have a significant impact on her work and business expansion going forward.
“The trip changed our lives. We aim to meet the standards that were laid out in a systematic step-by-step approach during this training session,� she said. “We also plan to train our staff and motivate other farmers by example. This will enable us to achieve our goals and build a better future.�
Another group of Tanzanian poultry producers traveled to South Africa for a similar training at the end of this month. The group included Neema Minja and Godwin Mrema, who have been featured in previous editions of Global Update. These trainings are an important tool but, at least at the moment, require the producers to travel more than 2,000 miles.
In order to expand these training programs to include more Tanzanian producers and feedmillers, the Council is developing a hands-on training program right in Tanzania. This will ultimately help Tanzanian producers expand their poultry production, thus creating a larger market for feed ingredients.
The Tanzanian project is a four-year program funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food for Progress grant. Launched in the spring of 2014, the program has three goals, which include promoting quality feed formulations for poultry; developing self-sufficient industry associations for poultry producers and feed manufacturers; and improving broiler (poultry raised for meat) and layer (poultry raised for eggs) production through training seminars.
Previous updates about this program in Tanzania are available here.