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.
The aim of the Livestock Project is to provide families with an animal to rear. The families have been have been identified by Gihombo sector officials as being in need. They are supported through welfare advice and veterinary services. Since its inception in 2019, the programme has been evaluated with local reports indicating great success. The animals are thriving!
Goats
The Executive Secretary of Gihombo sector attended this first distribution of goats at the GIFO meeting in 2019, when goats were allocated to the beneficiaries from different sector villages. On the back of that success, further batches of goats have been allocated each year.
You can support a vulnerable family by buying a goat @ £50.
Please help us with a donation.
You can support a family in need by buying a chicken @ £10.
Please help us with a donation.
Pigs
In past years, the pig project has provided 10 piglets to families identified as in need. However, whilst there are continuing benefits of the pigs to the community, VRUK and GiFo have decided to continue to fund goats and replace funding for pigs with the new chicken project this year.
Working with the Gihombo sector Executive Secretary, the GiFo board identified vulnerable families who would benefit from participation in the pig initiative.
Aims of the project were to:
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 of the first piglets