Vanapa Farm’s first community-training session in Village Chicken rearing began on March 31 with 10 members of the Pinu Village women’s group. Uncle Emmanuel Ume began the training with a tour of the farm and over the next two days the women were trained in chicken house construction, feeding, breeding, egg management, disease management and biosecurity. On the last day the women split into four groups and killed and prepared chickens for lunch. Each group made a different dish, but the coconut curry was the clear winner!

Most of the women had never received any previous training, so the Vanapa Farm session was a significant milestone. With a lack of employment opportunities in Pinu, the village chicken training was an important tool for ensuring food security and generating income. At the end of training, the women were provided with their village chicken starter pack of three hens, one rooster and a roll of wire for their chicken houses. On receiving their certificates, the participants were enormously proud of their first official community-based training and a little overwhelmed that they had received training ‘all the way from Australia!’

Read more on our PNG program here.