Chickens4Change photography competition 2020 winners
This year, we ran our annual photography competition with the Rural Poultry Centre (RPC) Malawi with a new title ‘Chickens4Change’ to highlight the important role of smallholder chickens not just in Africa, but globally. The theme for this year was ‘Chickens of the World’. We want to thank all our participants for their colourful entries of chickens from Africa, Australia, Asia and the Americas.
First place is awarded to Associate Professor Soshe Ahmed, from the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. His submission is titled ‘Marzina Khatun, from a remote village (Choubaria) of Magura district, Bangladesh’. The photograph was accompanied by the following story.
First place by Associate Professor Soshe Ahmed, Bangladesh.
Marzina is feeding her family with eggs and meat regularly. Millions of women in a similar situation across rural Bangladesh are empowered through keeping backyard poultry, which has become an essential means of supplementary income to the women. It plays a role in bringing socio-economic improvement among the more vulnerable sections of society, especially among rural populations, landless labourers, and women in remote areas.
Explaining her experience, Marzina says –
“We are poor; we hardly have a choice to buy nutritious food for our children and the family. Now I can add protein to our food plates; additionally, I contribute to pay school fees to my children and buy clothes for them.”
Soshe says now is the time to rethink the village chicken production systems of the country [Bangladesh]. The population of village chickens in rural communities is significantly decreasing despite having high demands. He says Newcastle disease (ND) reduces the interest of backyard chicken keeping among the household farmers. The small-scale producers need a suitable ND vaccine and also require an awareness-building program to adopt vaccination for their birds. He suggests making evidence-based policy for the village chicken sub-sector as it has the potential to eradicate malnutrition, alleviate rural poverty, and create income opportunities.
Second place is awarded to Richard Nyoni from Malawi with his submission ‘Betty’.
Second place by Richard Nyonyi, Malawi.
Richard is a regular participant in our photography competition. He is skilled in capturing the lives of rural Malawian’s with beauty and humanity. Chickens and other livestock are regular features in his photos. You can see more of this portrait photographs here.
Third place is awarded to Ssali Mohamed Adda from Entebbe, Uganda. He explained –
“My small chicken farm has helped me to keep my daughter busy, with the financial flow and I don’t need to go to market. I love being with chicken and keeps me busy when am home”.
Third place by Ssali Mohamed Adda, Uganda.
Fourth place is awarded to Laetitia Stroesser from Malawi. It captures three common and important resources for the livelihoods of people in rural Malawi – village chickens, solar technology and maize. The magnificent rooster in the photograph is a sight to behold.
Fourth place by Laetitia Stroesser, Malawi.
Kyeema and the RPC would like to thank all the participants, donors and especially the judges – Dr Rosa Costa, Leo Wiles and Samantha Paxton – for the time and resources they dedicated to making this another successful competition this year.
