Assessing a pilot co-operative-based workshop-subsidy model toward improving small-scale chicken production in peri-urban Nepal

Farmers in Nepal face many of the same global challenges associated with initiating and scaling poultry husbandry as many other developing countries. These include access to innovative approaches in finance, credit, coop design, marketing, and sales. As with most low-income countries, Nepalese poultry farmers also lack adequate training in poultry husbandry including biosecurity. In this paper, we describe a collaborative workshop-subsidy approach to addressing these challenges conducted by a partnership with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Engineering, the School of Education, and a farming co-operative based in the semi-rural area of Bhaktapur, Nepal. The program included two workshops covering aspects of poultry rearing including coop construction, chick rearing, biosecurity, and husbandry. Both workshops were a combination of lectures and hands-on learning. Following completion of the workshops, each farmer received subsidized materials for coop construction and poultry rearing. The co-operative provided training facilities and a market for selling eggs. Despite an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which affected the scale of program implementation, our results suggest that the workshop subsidy collaborative approach can be successful in reducing market entry barriers. Our 6-mo post-workshop survey showed that two-thirds of the workshop participants ultimately built their own coop and raised chicks. Half of these participants reported market available egg production and a doubling of egg consumption at home.