Women in Balochistan province diversify their families' diets and earn extra cash

A girl in Sohrabzi village in Balochistan's Mastung District stands by her family's coop as the chickens stay in shadow to beat the heat.

"Before these chickens, we couldn't afford to buy eggs. Now we can get eggs at home."

- Bibi Amna, of Ghausabad village, Mastung District, Balochistan

The rugged Mastung District in Pakistan's Balochistan province is a vast desert, with its 6,045 square kilometer area populated by only 27 people per square kilometer. Plagued by drought and poverty, residents subsist on farming and livestock. Wheat forms the staple of their diet, supplemented by lentils and vegetables. Chicken and eggs, when available, provide the only animal protein in local diets. Meat is a luxury reserved for special occasions or guests. "For some people, 100,000 rupees is not a large sum. But for us, even 5 rupees is a lot," said Qaim Khan, an elderly man from Ghausabad village in Mastung.

To add a source of nutrition and income to local households, USAID funded a program by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that includes training women in raising and feeding poultry, controlling disease, and supplying poultry at subsidized rates. Eighty women in Mastung each received 20 chickens and roosters, vaccinations and 50 kg of feed for about 1,000 rupees ($16.66), at 25 percent of actual cost. Selected for its hardiness, the poultry breed survives on kitchen scraps and withstands the area's arid environment. Now women cook eggs to supplement their family's diet and sell the rest at market rates. Some, like Bibi Fehmida of Ghausabad village, are raising chicks from the original roost. "Before these chickens, we couldn't afford to buy eggs. Now we can get eggs at home," said Bibi Amna, who lives with 11 family members in Ghausabad. "And when the men are out, we still have some cash of our own." If there is nothing else for other dinner, said Amna's neighbor Khairunissa, her family eats eggs.

More than 300 women across three Baloch districts have been trained in rural poultry management, although poultry distributions have been temporarily suspended as a precaution against the spread of avian flu. In Mastung, women continue to benefit. Bibi Khadija of Kila Khandawa village sells eggs she doesn't use to neighbors or bakeries for 3 or 4 rupees each, making 60 rupees ($1) a week. Khairunissa uses her weekly earnings to buy cooking oil, tea and sugar. Others use the extra cash to pay off initial loans to buy the chickens. Along with water management training, drought-resistant seed distribution and other self-sustaining programs, USAID is helping rural communities in Balochistan meet their nutritional and household needs.

May 13, 2006