Malawi
Malawi is a landlocked, low-income country with a rapidly expanding population, over 80 percent of whom are smallholder farmers. With episodes of drought and severe flooding increasing in frequency and intensity in Malawi, the country is suffering from a food security crisis.
Through our partnership with the Rural Poultry Centre (RPC), a Malawian NGO, Kyeema Foundation has supported work in Malawi since 2013 to deliver Newcastle disease control programs. Since the delivery of these programs, there has been a noticeable increased availability of chicken products, and income from the sale of chickens and eggs which can be spent on more diverse food and other immediate needs for the household.
Projects
Improving rural livelihoods in Malawi through village poultry
Mchinji, Dowa East and Salima
With support from the Australian government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program, this project continues work by Kyeema and Rural Poultry Centre (RPC) to improve village chicken production in villages and districts throughout Malawi. It will see the expansion of this work (from Ntchisi) into the Mchinji, Dowa East and Salima districts and again focus on training community vaccinators to reduce Newcastle disease fatalities in poultry in order to improve the livelihoods of households in this area.
RPC Volunteers program
A program for short-term RPC volunteers has enabled valuable collaborative work between the Rural Poultry Centre and the Wildlife Action Group (WAG) in Malawi. RPC has assisted in training farmers and distribution of chickens to communities bordering the Thuma Forest Reserve, home to an impressive variety of wildlife and flora. The idea is to enable those communities to shift their source of livelihoods away from the resources of the forest and towards more sustainable enterprises, including village chickens. Nominate #RPC VP’ and donate directly to this program here.
Production of the I-2 Newcastle disease vaccine
The RPC office at the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) in Lilongwe is hosted by the Malawi government. In return, RPC offers support to staff at the CVL who produce the I-2 ND vaccine. We help to ensure a stable supply of the vaccine through support to the government managed vaccine production unit at CVL. This is the only source of a Newcastle disease vaccine which is effective under village conditions. We have a great relationship with the relevant government agencies and we have often helped in various ways to ensure sustained production and proper quality standards of the vaccine.
