Livestock Projects
Livestock Projects
Since 2019, the Livestock Project has provided families with an animal to rear: we have experimented with chickens, pigs and goats.. The families, who are identified by local officials as being in need, benefit from the animals’ offspring. The manure is also very welcome to improve the local sandy soil, from which nutrients and minerals are washed away in the twice a year rainy seasons. Families are supported through welfare advice and veterinary services.
You can support us by a gift card to fund the purchase of a chicken or a goat.
Chickens
The first step on the road to animal husbandry is a chicken. Selected families are given a laying hen. Families benefit primarily from the eggs, which are an excellent source of protein, but also from the chicken manure for their vegetable small holdings. In addition, any non-laying hens and cockerels become ingredients in nutritious family meals.
Pigs
The next step after chickens is sometimes a pig. Owning a pig helps families benefit from:
Increase animal husbandry skills by working with the sector veterinary service for animal husbandry training
Provide manure for the land to enrich the soil for more productive cropping
Provide an opportunity to breed young piglets for rearing and passing on to other families in need. Subsequent litters can then be sold to provide the family with additional income for reinvestment in their subsistence livelihoods or, perhaps, paying their child’s school fees
Be self-sustaining, in that beneficiaries own the mother pig with their maturing offspring being given back to GiFo for distribution to other deserving families.
One local man who received a pig three years ago said,
“My pig has had a litter every year: the first litter I gave back to the project but the second two litters I sold for money. My financial situation is so much better that they would not give me a pig now.”
Goats
Goats are a valuable source of meat and milk, with the manure being used to fertilise the land. A breeding scheme enables goats to provide valuable protein meat for the families or income when sold on. In this way, both owners and the community benefit.
