20,000 Black Giant chicks distributed so far for 2019

Sep 07, 2019 News

The Guyana Livestock Development Agency (GLDA) on this week’s episode of its show “This Week In Agriculture” made the announcement that so far for this year the agency has seen 20,000 Black Giant chicks distributed and will see the same number being distributed over the next few months.

20,000 Black Giant chicks have been distributed so far for 2019

This will be the highest number of chicks hatched and distributed since the project began and was expanded. However, it is projected that numbers will continue to rise as the demand for the birds increase.
Project Black Giant was initiated in 2016 to increase the daily intake of protein in the diet of the hinterland communities as well as a cheaper means of protein products for the students living in the dorms.
The birds are dual-purpose, in that they can be used for both meat and eggs. The adults have been recorded to weight around 12 to 15 pounds.
In 2017, the agency acquired 200 Black Giant hens, which they imported from Brazil, after it was found that the ones acquired locally were of mixed breed. This 200 saw the hatching and distribution of 7000 chicks for that year, however these were confined mainly to the hinterland communities.
In 2018 when the project was expanded to riverine and coastal communities, a yearly distribution of a little over 20,000 chicks was recorded. This year is projected to easily double that number and it may triple next year.
Head of the Animal Production Unit Ms Coleen Bascom said that, “The project was the brainchild of our CEO. Mr. Cumberbatch and it was started in March 2016. The first set of chickens was bought locally and it was discovered that it was a mixture. Because of the importance of the project management decided to import some chickens from Brazil. That was done in late 2017. We started hatching, rearing and selling to the hinterland communities first. Targeting the schools with dormitories, so as to improve their nutrition and reduce the cost of protein nutrients for the students in those schools.”
The agency is working to have the project spread even further across country as more chicks will be hatched and distributed as more farms will be set up in the near future.