One step further in empowering the poultry value chain in Africa

It builds upon the successes achieved through the initial SAPPSA program (SAPPSA: Sustainable Access to Poultry Parent Stock in Africa - Hendrix Genetics) by enhancing the reliability and performance of the poultry value chain in Africa. The objective is to make dual-purpose chickens more affordable for smallholder farmers.

Hendrix Genetics has secured a new multi-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide smallholder farmers in Africa with access to affordable and high-quality genetics. The SAPPSA project, led by Hendrix Genetics' Traditional Poultry brand, SASSO, aims to tackle key challenges within Africa's poultry value chain:

• The absence of infrastructure and long-term technical support for genetic improvement
• Unreliable supply chains for improved dual-purpose chickens, or
• Operational inefficiencies along the value chain.

Leveraging Hendrix Genetics' expertise and extensive knowledge, the project is built around three key pillars: create, deliver and realize genetic potential.

Access to high-quality poultry genetics plays a pivotal role in the entire poultry value chain, as shown by the African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI). APMI is a sustainable distribution model that generates profits for all stakeholders along the value chain, from hatcheries producing day-old chicks (DOC) to Mother Units raising DOCs to teen chicks, and ultimately to smallholder farmers. This model combines hardier chicken breeds that are resilient to local environments, while establishing an economically sustainable and fair model.

The project aims to enhance the affordability of dual-purpose breeds, which will, in turn, stimulate local demands. To ensure model's long-term sustainability, it requires continuous improvements to breeding programs, along with a stronger supply chain and the empowerment of local actors throughout the entire value chain.

The dual-purpose breeds of SASSO have demonstrated success on small-scale farms in Africa, thanks to efforts made under the initial SAPPSA project through the Recurrent Testing (RT) program. This program focused on enhancing the performance of selected SASSO lines under African conditions. Since then, Hendrix Genetics has facilities in Burkina Faso where the offspring of elite birds are tested for either growth or egg production (for more information about our Recurrent Test, see: Recurrent Test to Improve SASSO Birds’ Performance Under Challenging Conditions).

In the spirit of continuous improvement and striving for product, this new project expands and scales up RT efforts. Better genetic potential, tailored to the specific needs of Africa, leads to improved Parent Stock (PS) performance, including better mating and hatchability, which in turn enhances affordability.

Ultimately, this leads to improved Commercial Stock (CS) performance, such as better survival rates, egg production, and growth under challenging conditions at mother units and small-scale farms. We will improve our breeds through the development and adoption of innovative methods to measure traits in the field. These genetic improvements will directly benefit smallholder farmers by providing them with more robust chickens better adapted to harsh conditions.

The project is also designed to enhance the efficiency of parent stock production. Developments in data analytics have made it possible to collect and analyze real-time data. Benchmarking and data-driven decision-support systems implemented under the project will empower local distributors to optimize the management of their parent stock flocks and improve their operational efficiency.

Concurrently, the project aims to tackle the challenge of feed, which represents up to 70% of the expenses in poultry farming. With feed prices fluctuating, profitability is significantly impacted by these costs. While many Sub-Saharan countries still depend on imports, an increasing number are replacing traditional feed ingredients with locally available resources or waste-stream products.

The objective is therefore to conduct small-scale feed trials to evaluate the growth of SASSO birds in the mother units while calculating the feed costs. This will allow to assess the potential benefits of alternative and locally sourced feed ingredients.

In the long term, the project is expected to generate significant socio-economic impacts by:

• bridging the gap between large-scale commercial farms and smallholder farmers, promoting the development of an inclusive poultry sector;
• making dual-purpose chickens more accessible and affordable to smallholder farmers;
• improving access to protein, enhancing the nutrition and overall health of rural households in Africa;
• supporting a locally driven poultry value chain by strengthening food sovereignty on the continent, reducing reliance on imported chicken;
• generating employments and profits along the value chain by promoting a sustainable distribution networks, and;
• fostering a network of interconnected, viable, and sustainable businesses that will continue to thrive long-after the project ends.