‘Thanks to Dev4SCALE for helping me generate new income stream’
Published: Jul 6, 2022 Reading time: 3 minutes
Mr. Yin San, a farmer and a father of two, resides in Mean Rith Commune, Sandan District, Kampong Thom. He’s living in Prey Lang area, where farming is the typical income stream for their livelihood. Since last year, it has been a challenge for him as his farm did not go well and did not pay off. He did not get to harvest his cashew nuts and cassava as they were all damaged. This indeed offered him financial struggle. Fortunately, this new chicken business helps him cover his financial loss.
The USAID-funded project, Dev4SCALE (Development of Poultry Value Chain for Sustainable Community Adaptative Livelihood Enhancement), aims to help target communities expand sustainable livelihood by providing assistance in acquiring technical chicken raising skills, accessing quality input and extension services, and accessing the existing market through broker facilitation. All of these will eventually lead to improved local chicken production and value chain, as well as a stronger local economy.
Before this, he had never raised chickens for business. It was only a few chickens for family supply. Currently, he’s among all 30 members under the project who raise broilers and supply to market. He joined Dev4SCALE in February 2022, and started with 50 chicks. He and other members had never been equipped with any proper skills and knowledge on chick raising before, and had only used the traditional method, which did not offer him and other farmers many benefits. With technical skills training, it has helped him learn about disease management for chickens, financial records, nutrient feed production and feeding, amongst others. He knows when to provide medication and vaccination for his chicken, and proper knowledge on feed production helps chicken grow faster, healthier, and more efficiently, saving up to 40% of feed purchase expense from the market.
He has harvested his chicken twice so far. The first one was in February with 50 boilers, and it took only 2 months. For this period, he earned approximately 1.2 million Khmer Riel (KHR), which offered him 30% profit. He has yet to complete the second harvest, but the profit is expected to be higher as his chicken flock has grown from 50 to 300.
In addition to having proper raising techniques and generating better income, keeping records and tracking business expenses is an advantage for his business. Before the project intervention, he had never tracked the input expenses. The same goes for his fellow farmers in the community. ‘Having kept the record of expenses, it helps us plan, track, and limit them. Before, we would lose count on our expenses and exceed the budget we have, but now, we manage the budget well’, says San.
On top of this, among other members, he was chosen as a demonstration farmer by the project due to his active participation with the project, learning commitment, and effort in scaling up his farm by following clear instruction. As a demonstration farmer, his chicken farm will be a model and a learning experience for other producer members under the project.
'I want to specialize in this business'
Going forward, he intends to upgrade his farm to be larger than the current one and to be more specialized in the broiler raising business. When being asked if he wants to try something else besides broiler raising, he said that focusing on too many things at the same time might not offer him the best results. He might not have enough time to focus on one thing and might end up lowering his performance. ‘One thing at a time’, he stresses.
San also encourages other members to attend the meeting and training as much as they can. ‘My massage to other fellow members would be to commit to more skill learning so that you can upgrade yourself and your business. Not everyone can have a chance to receive support like this. Since you have got a chance, please grab it well.’