Chicken economics
I was intrigued by Bill Gates’ chicken idea and followed him to his blog (GatesNotes.com), which also referred me to his wife, Melinda’s blog. Both husband and wife convinced me with their argument and I am now infected with their chicken bug. If you didn’t read my blog, here is the summary. Bill and Melinda […]
I was intrigued by Bill Gates’ chicken idea and followed him to his blog (GatesNotes.com), which also referred me to his wife, Melinda’s blog. Both husband and wife convinced me with their argument and I am now infected with their chicken bug.
If you didn’t read my blog, here is the summary.
Bill and Melinda Gates are convinced that the chicken is the “ATM of the poor.”
They are so passionate about the idea that Bill has pledged to provide 100,000 chickens to Africans. He argued that starting with five chickens; a woman can make $1,000 a year, thereby taking her off the extreme-poverty line, which is currently estimated to be $700.
So, Bill, why would you raise chickens?
“They’re a good investment. Suppose a new farmer starts with five hens. One of her neighbours owns a rooster to fertilise the hens’ eggs. After three months, she can have a flock of 40 chicks. Eventually, with a sale price of $5 per chicken-which is typical in West Africa-she can earn more than $1,000 a year, versus the extreme-poverty line of about $700 a year.”
Now let’s break these numbers down:
1. Five hens will give you 40 chickens in three months.
2. Each chicken sells for $5, a reasonable estimate even in Nigeria.
3. So 40 chickens x $5 = $200 every three months.
4. We have four 3 months (quarters) in a year
5. Therefore, 4 x $200 = $800.
So it’s not $1,000 as Bill Gates estimated. But I guess if the offspring of the hens also produce their own chicks, the money would approximate Bill Gates’ figure.
Gates has championed a good deal of ideas to reduce poverty in developing countries – from drinking water made from poop to making high-tech toilets. But this may be his best idea yet.
And it isn’t as if it’s a new idea. In Nigeria here, it’s difficult to find a house in the village which doesn’t keep chickens. But Gates puts a refreshing twist on it by showing us (with concrete numbers) how it can reduce poverty.
I’ve been dreaming of using goats (after crossing local breed with Boar goats from South Africa) for the same purpose. But using chickens appears to be faster, cheaper and not very risky.
In the light of this, we’ve started a pilot of this idea by giving five chickens each to selected women in Bida. We’re estimating N1, 000 per chicken. Thus, with N5, 000, you can remove one woman from extreme poverty. Let me know if you want to contribute to the project.
What about you? How powerful do you think this idea is in reducing poverty?
Our own Adamu Tilde
Recently, we were given cause to celebrate an achievement by a young brother, Adamu Tilde, who performed excellently in a foreign land. Out of the many testimonials given by his friends, I’m sharing the one below:
Each time I happen to dial his number in the late hours of the night, I always found him awake. He is a kind of person that you can call any hour and he will pick not because he is just awake but because he’s studying. He is someone I always run to in terms of writing because he kills articles effortlessly. One would even wonder if he is studying journalism because he is just a genius in that field, yet a scientist. What melts me completely is his humility, kindness and compassion towards humans regardless of religion or other vices.
I got furious one day and yelled at him, “you better come out with first class if not I will personally flog and make life miserable for you because I will keep reminding how much you stress yourself studying and denying yourself the pleasure of other things. What’s the book book thing for ne Adamu?” All he did was laughed and said “yi man hakuri don Allah, all I know is I will make you proud but then it’s not just my field work that I am reading, I read widely for general knowledge of things.” Ok oo,na ji was my response.
Despite the book book “madness” yet he is a social being to the core, he watches movies that I doubt you can beat him at that. I often wonder how he is able to manage and fine tune all these together. It boils down to him being an exceptional being, yes he is.
We need you here Adamu, please come back home and contribute your quota to the fast dying economy of this country. Congratulations once again my dearest friend who has turned a brother.