BRAC Poultry

A BRAC Social Enterprise

A pioneering venture contributing to the development of the poultry industry in Bangladesh

Set up in 1996, BRAC Poultry is a pioneering venture that has significantly contributed to the development of the poultry industry in Bangladesh through ensuring supply of quality chicks at a competitive price and providing technical support via a poultry extension program, whilst creating more income generating activities for millions of poor people.

BRAC identified that local chickens were generally undernourished and that egg production was poor in villages. By providing the right technology and training the villagers could be helped to produce better chickens with more meat and more eggs. This in turn meant an improved diet and income for the rural poor and the communities they live in.

Most women of rural, landless households are subjected to extreme poverty in Bangladesh and BRAC’s poultry development model was exclusively targeted at landless women, built on GO-NGO collaboration. The model involved women in a chain of activities as vaccinators, hatchery operators, chicken rearers, feed sellers, producers of hatching eggs and as producers of eggs for the market. Credit as well as marketing was integrated into the model.

70% of the rural, landless women are directly or indirectly involved in poultry rearing activities. BRAC’s model, therefore, became successful as traditionally women have some experience in poultry rearing, which therefore represent skills known to them.

BRAC was able to prove that homestead poultry rearing is economically viable. If the landless women are properly trained, supported with credit and other necessary inputs and made to operate under supervision of extension workers of both Government and BRAC and the Government machinery are activated to provide for the delivery of services, the poultry sector could be one of the most productive sectors.

A Retrospective Analysis of Chicken Diseases Diagnosed at the BRAC Poultry Disease Diagnostic Centre of Gazipur

Landless Women and Poultry: The BRAC Model in Bangladesh

BRAC Poultry Becomes Key Supplier for KFC