This archive report was first published on 24 October 2019.
On October 24, 2019, a groundbreaking project was launched in Kisumu to empower girls and women in rural areas through the provision of solar-powered egg incubators.
The initiative, facilitated by Power for the People and Sare Millers, aims to provide 60-egg capacity incubators to over 300 girls and women in the region.
According to Dave Okech, Managing Director of Sare Millers, most farmers in the area rely on the natural system, which has a hatching rate of only 40 per cent.
“This has led to downward productivity of chickens, making it difficult to commercialise poultry,” Okech said.
The solar-powered incubators, developed in collaboration with girls in rural areas, offer a solution to this problem. They are automatic, use green energy, provide lighting for the family, and can even charge phones.
With a hatching rate of 95 per cent, the solar-powered system is a significant improvement over the traditional method.
“We are bridging the existing gap by offering an innovation that can be accessed by poor rural girls and farmers for socio-economic reasons,” Okech said.
