Jeanne Muneza feeding her pullets. She is one of the rural youth in Rwanda benefiting from ASTF-funded poultry project in Gisagara, Southern Province. Poultry has the potential to increase youth employment while addressing Nutrition related issues

A year had passed after completing secondary school and she had not found a job. Jeanne Aurore Muneza, now a 27 year old couldn not continue to university because her parents were poor. In fact, with that level of education in her rural area, her parents expected her to be in position to support the family; she had her young siblings who needed to continue their primary education lucky for her she had reached secondary level.

Jeanne had done mathematics and physics, and the combination provided her little or no options in terms of turning the theory into an income generating activity. She is now working to find her place as a young entrepreneur.

Starting the journey

Currently Jeanne keeps 627 layers which give her 3 150 eggs per week, generating USD 1 050 per month during a low season. The dream to become an agripreneur began when a poultry project was launched in 2015 in her area, Save in Gisagara district by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF) financed project “Promoting Agricultural Diversification to Reduce Poverty, Fight Malnutrition and Enhance Youth Employment Opportunities in Eastern Africa”.

She and Twenty five other youth participating in the project were each given 330 layer hens, a well-built poultry house with poultry housing equipment including feeders and drinkers. The youth also received poultry feeds for the first four months after which they would be able to run the business themselves.

Jeanne like other young people was trained in business management skills, in addition to poultry keeping skills and incubating pullets. 

Changing life, changing perceptive

The chickens have completely changed her life and the welfare of her family has also improved because the family also gets to eat the eggs boosting their nutrition greatly. 

“The chicken gave me a vision and inspired me to be a big entrepreneur. The trainings equipped with skills to draft a good business proposal which has helped my poultry business to grow,” she boasts. She sells manure from the chicken - liked by the farmers because of their high amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.  

“Right now I support my siblings in their education and provide for the family with necessities such as food, clothes and lotion for the girls”, she adds.

Jeanne has big plans for the future in poultry farming. Her business employs two young people and hopes to give more jobs to youth like her when the business expands.

“I plan to ship in an incubator which will help bring chickens into life. Right now we import a one day chicklets. I want to have at least 5 000 layers by the end of this year,” Jeanne says.

The project is empowering more youth to join agriculture sector and has contributed to halving the rate of Youth Unemployment in the country, which currently stands at 3.3 percent as per the 2015 figures released by the National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (NISR).