Village chicken farming

Name: Amedio Kaikai

Location: Vanapa, Hiritano Highway, CP, PNG

Amedio is a local farmer at Vanapa in Central Province (CP). He grew up in the area, went to local primary school, and was fortunate to be offered a place at De La Sale College at Bereina in CP. While at college he developed a passion for agriculture and carpentry. The basic skills he learnt at college gave him the confidence to establish himself in the village – making gardens, building houses and helping others to improve their homes and gardens in the village.

Working and living the subsistence lifestyle in the village is a challenge, a challenge that he understands very well. Amedio participates in community activities, taking part in Doura Primary School parents’ working group and church groups, and helping the youth groups to develop the local sporting and community activity plans.

Amedio is a hardworking family man, always making sure his family has a decent roof over their head and a balanced diet, living a healthy and happy life. He made a choice to grow some village chickens in his backyard to maintain a consistent supply of protein to add to the fresh vegetables and greens harvested from the gardens he established. Although he had no prior knowledge of village chicken farming he challenged himself to learn about it. He did his research by talking to other local farmers, sourcing information from school libraries and when possible research via internet.

I caught up with Amedio in the village when conducting awareness of the Village Chicken Farming (VCF) program. He approached me after the awareness session, and enquired how in depth the project would be, and when and how quickly the program would start in the village. He was mostly curious about the training and skilling programs that were planned for locals to assist them in improving chicken farming and general agriculture. He saw the benefits of the support that the VCF program sponsor Kyeema Foundation from Brisbane Australia would bring to his local area.

Kyeema Foundation had agreed to build a VCF in Vanapa approximately 500 metres from his place, and Amedio offered his services to assist me to develop the farm. He showed up almost daily to assist to build the perimeter fence, and he worked tirelessly on the farm designing and building chicken houses and nesting boxes. He did everything he could to make sure that the farm was up and running as soon as possible. He donated hens and a rooster to add to the variety of chicken breeds that was already selected for the farm.

In January 2020 he was given the opportunity to meet the CEO of Kyeema Foundation Ms Celia Grenning and Ms Robyn Alders, the Chair of Kyeema Foundation Board. He took advantage of their visit by showing them his backyard farm and providing fresh fruit and vegetables from his garden for lunch. Amedio is a key member of Vanapa VCF program. He has been engaged in conducting baseline surveys and collecting data in the region for Kyeema Foundation’s monitoring and evaluation system. His farm has been approved to be part of the VCF network in Central Province as part of the development of the village chicken sector.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Amedio for his input in the development of the village chicken farm hub at Vanapa in Central Province. I hope to strengthen this partnership and look forward to supporting his endeavours.

Ali Ume

Project Manager PNG (Volunteer)

Kyeema Foundation