Ethiopia gets 16,000 Indian chickens to spur poultry industry

NEW DELHI - Corporate and Minorities Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Thursday flagged off a consignment of 16,000 day-old chicks to Ethiopia as part of a programme to introduce and breed superior quality poultry in the African nation.

The consignment from a Gurgaon-based poultry breeding company, Keggfarms, consists of a variety of chicken branded “Kuroiler” that can live and thrive in the resource-poor, foraging village environment and yet produce much more meat and eggs than the existing stocks, the company said in a statement.

Also part of the consignment are 4,000 Kuroiler hatching eggs.

The initiative to supply the Kuroiler chicks came after Keggfarms was approached by Flow Equity, a US-based fund, to introduce the chicken in Ethiopia.

Flow Equity is managed by three young US citizens, who are working for the upliftment of social conditions of the African poor, especially in Ethiopia and Uganda.

“Some months ago at the initiative of Arizona State University and Govt. of Uganda, Keggfarms had supplied a batch of Kuroiler Hatching Eggs to Uganda,” said the company.

“Not only did the Kuroiler Hatching Eggs yield a far superior hatchability but in the tests being conducted by Arizona State University and the Govt. of Uganda, they are hugely outperforming the local birds.”

This Kuroiler variety is proven to be capable of expressing its genetic potential in a scavenging village habitat. Such chicken can produce up to 150 eggs, compared to 40 from other local varieties.

According to the company, Flow Equity intends to ramp up their requirement to import 100,000 Kuroiler chicks per month within the next few months.

“In the larger sense it represents the potential of an Indian mindset, an Indian approach and an Indian product to play a significant role in the upliftment of the poor in Africa,” said a Keggfarms spokesperson.