2015-10-ratyiri-chicken-farmerDemand for chickens is rising rapidly in many Africans countries and farmers in Burkina Faso would love to seize the opportunities that such demand brings.

The reasons for the increased demand for this ever popular food staple are summarised in this helpful BBC article.   However, there are significant barriers to be overcome before small scale farmers in the villages of Burkina Faso can take advantage of the chances this brings and, at the same time, create more income for themselves and their families.

Even setting up a small scale chicken rearing business such as that pictured takes capital.  In communities where there are no banks, getting even a small loan to get started is virtually impossible.  Even where banks exist, farmers usually have no security to offer and interest rates on the repayments can be crippling.

In response, and working with our local partner AEAD, we are setting up a pilot micro credit scheme.  Village based savings schemes will offer the opportunity for local people to make small deposits each week.  The capital generated will eventually be available for the community to make loans to its members to start small businesses such as chicken rearing, with the repayments being based on reasonable rates of interest and the money made being ploughed back into the local community in further loans and savings.

Burt all this takes time and we would love to ‘pump prime’ the scheme with a capital injection.  On average £50 would be enough to start a small business  and please consider whether you could help to get this micro credit scheme off the ground..

For the farmers of Burkina Faso, who knows where it may lead?