Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) has signed a 5-year, $13 million agreement with World Poultry Foundation (WPF) to expand its flagship program “the African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI)” to The Gambia and Sierra Leone.
This new partnership will increase poultry production by up to 200% compared to local indigenous breeds for over 100 thousand small-scale producers, significantly increasing household income and nutrition.
HE Khalifa Al-Kuwari, Director General of QFFD, said: “This partnership with WPF and supporting unique programs such as APMI is a quantum leap in the food security sector, as poultry production systems will not only resource-poor areas. But it will play a massive role in providing livelihood essentials to vulnerable groups and provide households with income and nutritionally food sources. And indirectly, such programs will invest in climate change and health sectors and empower most vulnerable community members such as women.”
HE added, “This agreement is a continuation of QFFD’s efforts in supporting food security and climate efforts, last year Qatar Fund for Development launched Nanmo initiative with Bill & Melinda Gates , investing in climate-adaptive agriculture tools and technologies to build resilient food systems and markets that provide nutrition, income, and economic opportunities to small-scale producers in the African communities.”
Across Africa, over 70% of smallholder farmers rear poultry, 80% of whom are women. Still, they often need access to high-quality poultry, balanced feed, technical training, access to financial services, and efficient market linkages to realize a profitable poultry operation.
Randall Ennis, CEO of WPF, said, “The APMI model is a sustainable path to transforming the rural poultry sector. This partnership with QFFD will develop strong markets that benefit all stakeholders in the value chain, especially rural communities. It will result in lasting impacts that continue long after our involvement.”
Since 2017, the World Poultry Foundation has been involved in developing and implementing the African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI). The program has supported the distribution of 97.5 million day-old chicks, registered over 13,000 new Brooder Units, and reached nearly 2.4 million small-scale producers in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The APMI program works with private sector partners to incentivize developing markets in hard-to-reach rural areas where high-quality inputs are otherwise inaccessible.
Please find the formal press release here: QFFD-WPF-Press-Release-English-6Feb2023.
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