Kitui forms part of the Semi arid and arid parts of Kenya.Food Security in such areas are recurrent with deaths being reported because of hunger. The current report has not been encouraging, 11 out of 47 counties in Kenya face starvation. At this stage,food aid from different humanitarian organizations is a temporary solution. Following the current food security crisis in Kenya, kit has been listed as one of the counties worst hit.The project aims to provide 200 families with egg laying hens,
Families living in the arid and semi arid areas are facing starvation and hunger which has resulted to serious undernutrition cases as well as death. Current statistcis show that 2.5 million people are food insecure in 13 out of 47 counties in Kenya ,Kitui being one of them.These families who are majorly pastoralist have lost their cattle,have no edible wild fruits and no source of livelihood. Children and mothers have been reported dead from hunger while school going children have stopped going
This chicken project is not only solving the immediate food needs but also looking at the future of this families. The plan is to select the most vulnerable households ,provide them with two indigenous hen and a cockerel, a simple housing for the hens and training on how to make chicken feeds and providing them with the materials and ingredients for making the feeds. The indegeous hens are able to survive harsh conditions provided they have feeds ,high resistance to diseases, tastier eggs.
The families will be trained on the hatching aspect as well as making the feeds to ensure sustainability. The vision of the project is to have the families one day consuming chicken meat as well as eggs. This will be facilitated by the hatching ,in two to five years these families will be chicken farmers producing more eggs and hens enough to be sold,it could be a source of livelihood. The indigenous eggs cost Ksh 5 more than the eggs from exotic hens while the hen costs Ksh 200- Ksh 300 more
