Photo Credit: Dena Bunnel
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Earth Day message highlights the continued progress of ASA/WISHH strategic partners who participated in WISHH’s USDA-funded AMPLIFIES Food for Progress poultry project in Ghana. USAID shares how EvansJoes Farm owners Josephine and Evans Kwasi Yeboah have reduced post-harvest loss in their feed as they grew their flock from 1000 to 50,000 birds. With every thousand birds added to their flock, they also increased their egg sales by 20 percent.
Between 2015-2020, USDA funded WISHH’s AMPLIFES project that trained poultry farmers and held demonstrations on improved feed quality. WISHH’s instruction supported the role of high-quality soy protein in feeds as well as introduced new technologies such as the ZeroFly® Hermetic bags. As a result of WISHH’s 2018 demonstrations, Evans said, “Now I can save my stored grains from becoming a flour-like substance, which is caused by weevils, and the cost of buying insecticidal powders with the use of your newly introduced bags.”
USAID reports that the change continues to yield results. “Since using the bags, the Yeboahs haven’t encountered any pests. The Yeboahs were able to increase their poultry productivity from 1,000 to 50,000 birds over five years. With every thousand birds added to their flock, they also increased their egg sales by 20 percent. From using these bags, the Yeboahs saved nearly $1,400 in income and nearly $3,600 in production costs over five years.”
The Yeboahs have introduced other farmers to the ZeroFly® bags and have become a local supplier. Josephine is also active in member of the Women in Poultry Value Chain (WIPVaC) that WISHH continues to support. This spring, WISHH used USDA’s Agricultural Trade Promotion Program funds to partner with WIPVaC to train 38 leading poultry producers, egg sellers, and feed marketers in Ghana. The partnership and instruction with these association members cultivates demand for soy as a key ingredient in Ghanaian poultry feeds as well as improves food security.
The United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goal SDG 12 Target 3 calls for halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including postharvest losses by 2030. According to the UN, one-third of the world’s food is either lost or wasted, and 40 percent of food loss occurs before crops make it to market. This loss hampers efforts to end hunger and malnutrition and contributes up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.