HIGHER OUTPUT WITH LESS INPUT
Published: Jul 6, 2022 Reading time: 3 minutes
Mrs. Chin Yim, an egg producer member in Kampong Thom joined the RECOVER project in February 2021. She is a farmer working on rice farming and broiler raising. ‘When COVID-19 hit, there was no demand for products, and prices for crops and chickens fell rapidly. Hence, I decided to join the RECOVER project in February 2021 to scale up my business and, hopefully, it will help my livelihood recover from the impact of COVID-19 ,’ says Yim.
Before the RECOVER project intervention, Yim used traditional backyard raising methods for chickens and had no knowledge of disease control, healthcare, proper feed production and feeding, artificial insemination, and more. She had 30 hens and roosters back then. After joining the project, the number has increased to 50. This is almost the same amount of chickens but the fruit that is borne after is more satisfying for her.
With support from RECOVER project, she transformed from broiler producer to egg producer. She has raised parent stock with the proper techniques trained by the project and practiced the Artificial Insemination (AI) method to produce eggs. She remembered receiving training on proper chicken pen construction, nutrient feed production, medication and vaccination, and breed selection. This has helped her identify diseases and provide vaccines and medicine on time to prevent severe conditions and transmission of the disease.
After the first phase of training provided, she first started the AI method in March and can harvest eggs starting in April with 805 fertilized eggs. These were all supplied to chick producer within community and the amount earned was approximately 800,000 Khmer Riel (KHR).
Prior to the project, with a comparable amount of chicken, and natural mating and egg production method, the amount of egg produced was relatively low, which she had never been able to sell to the market. The egg production has improved from time to time as the unfertilized egg percentage decreased. Starting in March 2022, the fertilized egg was only 30% of the total production, whereas the following months got better. Of 100 eggs, 60 to 70% hatched. However, there is no loss as those unfertilized eggs can still be sold as normal eggs.
Before joining the project, supplying broilers to the market offered her around 500,000 KHR per month. Now, with the project’s support on chicken raising for egg production, the income amount somehow increased. "Though not much different, it is still better, as the egg production business is much easier for her," she told the PIN staff. The disease risk of chicken is low due to proper medication and vaccination. She used to experience all her chickens dying due to disease break out, and this caused a great loss.
‘Now, with a better amount of profit, less work and spending less time on farm management, the egg production business is surely a great option,’ says Yim.
Aside from the technical skills training, she also learnt how to keep expenses and record profit. "I am still learning and practicing as it’s new to me. Hopefully, this will help me record profit comparison and plan well for my business”, she concludes.
The RECOVER project is funded by the European Union in Cambodia and the Czech Republic Development Agency (CzDA). The content in this article is the sole responsibility of People in Need (PIN) and its project partners within the consortium and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and Czech Republic Development Agency.
