AT LEAST 1,200 households in two wards of Mufindi district in Iringa region are benefiting from the USD 700,000 worth of Animal Gift Project implemented by World Vision Tanzania in the two local precincts.
The two-year project is a family oriented poverty alleviation initiative targeting to assist over 1200 households in Nyololo and Maduma wards of Mufindi district in their battle against poverty through free distribution of dairy cattle, cross-bred chicken and pigs.
The Nyololo Animal Gift Project Officer Leonard Benjamin, explains that the distribution of dairy cattle of Heifer, Friesian and Irish breed is meant to create a reliable dairy industry among the beneficiary households.
“This is a time-tested tailor-made project being bankrolled under the financial initiatives from the United States,” says Benjamin, adding that being in its first phase, the project has so far benefited more than 150 households in the areas.
As far as pig farming is concerned, the project complements commercial milk generation with dedicated meat and eggs production and balancing the three projects to ensure that the three combined ventures remain enterprising throughout the seasons, with their incomes remaining stable.
With poultry farming the provision of the crossbred chicken, is being implemented in conjunction with the Tusumuke Youth Entrepreneurs Group (TYEG) of Dodoma.
“So far we have managed to distribute 500 local chicks to at least 12 households in Nyololo village.”
The Chairperson of the Tusumuke group, Christopher Dioniz, said each of the beneficiary households received at least 40 local chicks, saying the chicks are those based between one day and three months.
“The type of local chicks we’re providing are the rapid yielding varieties called ‘Mwendo Kasi’ that happen to be highly productive in terms of eggs and meat production” he said.
Dioniz, who is a poultry industry consultant and service provider further detailed that they remain optimistic that the beneficiary households will bravely use the birds to elevate their economic gains.
“The poultry breeds are also the disease-resistant ones that are able to start hatching eggs within a period of four months at the rate of 260 eggs per year,” he says.
Meanwhile the Mafinga District Council of Iringa has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tusumuke Youth Entrepreneurs Group (TYEG) for the implementation of a poverty reduction project through provision of cocks for the rapid yielding crossbred chicken.
Tusumuke Gropu has so far provided a total of 22 cocks to at least 22 households, enabling them to improve the performance of their poultry manageries by adopting modern crossbred chicken.
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