Successful school poultry project in a pastoralist community

Nkoile Primary School is located in Kajiado Central district, a mainly pastoralist community. This is a mixed day primary school with a total enrolment of 308 pupils - 169 boys and 139 girls according to term II 2011 figures.




School Motto

Nkoile Primary School pupils on their way home from school

Start of Healthy Learning
The school started implementing the Healthy Learning programme in 2008. Major activities being undertaken include a school kitchen garden and poultry project. The school is also involved in environmental conservation activities including tree planting.

In early 2010, the school purchased 100 layers for a start. The school has created a useful partnership with the Ministry of  Livestock who provide technical advise on poultry rearing. Officers from this ministry train teachers and pupils on how to take care of the chickens. Towards the end of 2010, the school purchased an additional 150 chicks bringing the total number of layers to 250.

The first lot of poultry is already  laying eggs which the school sells locally. The money raised is used to further sustain the project with the aim of supplementing and sustaining the government supported home grown school meals programme.

Due to the delicate nature of the poultry project, the school's 4k club  is directly responsible for running it. The pupils feed the layers and clean the troughs among other tasks. This is done under the direction of the club patron.

Linking the project to the curriculum
In an attempt to make learning more practical and experiential, some teachers utilise the poultry project in teaching certain subjects in the classroom. In one instance, an English teacher used the project to teach tenses in English grammar.

Poultry project

Linking the project to the curriculum

Challenges
Despite the successes mentioned above, the school has encountered certain challenges during project implementation. Firstly the local community despise poultry and poultry products and many do not consume them.  The community attach a lot of value to cattle and these are seen as a status symbol. The school however managed to convince the community on why they should embrace poultry rearing. As a result of the school successfully implementing this project and earning some income from it, the attitude of the local community is slowly changing. The parents now realise that they can earn an income from poultry and even consume poultry products rather than depend on livestock which can be a let down especially during the dry season.

A second challenge concerns how to sustain the project especially with the ever rising cost of feeds.

Hosting visitors at the school
Irrespective of the challenges faced, the school has managed to successfully implement the project at least for the past one year. Subsequently, neighbouring schools have visited in an attempt to learn about the project. Indeed a nearby school has also started rearing poultry! Only recently (5th May 2011), the school hosted delegates from several countries who were in Kenya to attend the Global Child Nutrition Forum. The aim of the forum was linking  school feeding with agriculture development to maximise food security. School visits were therefore aimed to familiarise delegates with various models contributing to sustaining of the school feeding programme.

In future, Nkoile Primary Shool plans to venture into rearing of indigenous chickens.