A PPAAO program is developing the guinea fowl breeding industry in Ghana to create rural employment. Incubation methods and techniques, such as protecting guinea fowl from predatory birds, have improved productivity by over 500%. The program's start-up kits include financial support, an incubator, a generator, 500 eggs, deworming, fodder and vaccines. Participants also receive regular visits from agricultural trainers who help them care for the poultry. Currently, over 50,000 people benefit from the program.
"Before, I couldn't produce more than a hundred birds a year. Now, our losses are really reduced. This year alone, we got over 800 birds, so we were able to employ young people to help us," says Adamu Mubarik, a guinea fowl breeder in Garu Tempane.
"Thanks to the income obtained from this activity, I was able to pay my children's university fees without any loans."
The guinea fowl-focused PPAAO program in Ghana is designed to ensure that beneficiary farmers also support others in their communities. Each farmer subsidized by the PPAAO is assigned an aspiring guinea fowl breeder, who is given advice and access to resources. PPAAO beneficiaries also rent space in their incubators, at low cost, to farmers who wish to hatch their eggs.
Entire communities of guinea fowl breeders have thrived, with up to 50,000 people benefiting from the PPAAO's initial investment in just 80 farmers.
"Agriculture is already one of Ghana's biggest employers, but the energy and optimism that fuels the sector means it can have an even greater impact," says Henry Kerali, Country Director for the World Bank in Ghana.
"The Bank is currently financing the guinea fowl industry in Ghana, as it is ready to grow - it could create thousands of jobs, raise revenue with sales at local and international markets and contribute to poverty alleviation."
Many other farmers are looking to replicate Adamu's experience.
"I get calls from Kongo, Basunde, all over the district," says Adamu. "They either want to hatch their eggs using the incubator, or buy eggs or a guinea fowl. They've heard about my farm and want to see what I do." Mubarik, who had received a start-up kit from PPAAO in 2013, now produces up to 3,200 head of poultry a year and is keen to lead other farmers along the path to success.
According to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), up to 80% of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) in developing countries comes from livestock, while 600 million rural people depend on livestock to feed themselves and their families. Farmers often raise native species and manage their herds to maintain diversity and support community livelihoods. " In the face of climate change and other challenges to food security, it is vital to maintain the resilient characteristics of species that are well adapted to difficult terrain, hostile environments, and with little food and water," says José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
"And many species have useful characteristics that help protect landscapes and wildlife habitats."