Cobb-Vantress and Tyson Foods are supporting projects seeking to reduce extreme poverty in Africa, working with impoverished communities, national and local governments, and partner organizations to help transform people’s lives. The “One Egg” program focuses on providing nursery schools with protein each day. Thanks to poultry farms operated by Ikiraro Investments, these schools provide an egg to every child each day of the school week. The project involves 10,000 laying hens per site, using stock from Irvine’s Africa, who are also Cobb distributors in central Africa, according to a Cobb-Vantress press release.
Seventeen schools are currently involved, with other sponsorships in prospect. Around 100 children from ages two to five attend these schools. It costs $6,000 per year to sponsor one school, with surplus eggs sold locally and so helping to create a sustainable market in Rwanda.
The program that was born in Rwanda has now branched out into two more locations – Haiti in the Caribbean and Uganda. The goal is not only to provide children with protein, but also to create a sustainable local market, Cobb said.
The new model in Haiti is utilizing an already existing poultry company and a similar sponsorship program. The idea is to provide orphanages in Haiti with protein by purchasing eggs through sponsorship from the local Haiti Broilers company. To date, around 500 children are receiving an egg a day from this program.
Expanding into Uganda, the “One Egg” program is using a different approach, combining the first model in Rwanda with the second in Haiti. This is aimed at not only providing children with protein, but again to sell eggs to create a sustainable local market.
Research is being conducted to determine the benefit of increased nutrition through eggs in the children’s diet. In Uganda, they have completed building a sustainable poultry house, modeled after the one in Rwanda to provide the eggs. The first modern feed mill was built recently in Rwanda, and will have a substantial impact providing many farms with the feed they need. The program is looking for ways to reach more people by creating new partnerships. The goal is to provide more people with protein, and also to create jobs on these farms as well as developing a sustainable local market, according to Cobb.