One-day-old poultry distributed to households in Eastern Ukraine

FAO continues to deliver humanitarian aid in conflict-affected eastern Ukraine, with a focus on rural people living along the line of engagement. This time, some 2 750 households within the 8-kilometer zone are receiving one-day-old poultry.

The help comes as part of FAO’s emergency response programme in Ukraine, currently valued at US$ 2.3 million.

Each beneficiary household will receive either 30 chicks, 25 ducklings or 25 turkey poults. FAO experts recommended these quantities based on the needs and capacities of the beneficiaries to engage in backyard poultry farming.

Beneficiary families will receive complete, step-by-step guides to keeping young poultry – either for food or commercially – along with 10 kilograms of complete starter feed. The food is designed to ensure a natural and fresh diet for young poultry.

Provision of the young birds promotes farming, and contributes to increased production of high-protein eggs and meat.

Distribution of the poultry has been taking place in 56 villages of Donetsk region and 15 villages of Lugansk region since 6 July, and is expected to conclude this week in some of the most difficult-to-reach villages.

“FAO projects are designed in a comprehensive manner, considering technicalities of farming for sustainable results,” said Farrukh Toirov, coordinator of FAO’s emergency programme in Ukraine. “In the current project, beneficiaries receive a complete kit that includes poultry, starter feed, and guidelines to refresh their knowledge and effectively engage them.

“Poultry farming creates employment opportunities for the people,” Toirov continued. “It is not seasonal and can produce income for the entire year. Unemployed people can easily generate a good profit by raising poultry commercially.”

In recent months FAO has supported nearly 6 000 households along the contact line, with various types of farming inputs: seed potato, drip irrigation kits, animal feed, and poultry. The next round of humanitarian support will target an additional 10 000 households that have suffered significant losses due to the ongoing conflict.

By late summer, FAO’s emergency team in Ukraine plans to distribute sunflower and maize seed, rabbits, seed garlic, livestock fodder, and various other farming inputs to rural households in need.

FAO’s emergency programme in eastern Ukraine is financed by the Governments of Canada and France, as well as by FAO’s own resources, with the overall objective of enhancing food security for more than 45 000 people residing along the contact line.

20 July 2017, Kyiv, Ukraine