Life in the hatchery - Mile Gully women find income in egg production

By NADINE WILSON All Woman writer wilsonn@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, February 06, 2012

FOR the seven women who make up the Mile Gully Entrepreneurial Group (MGEG) in St Mary, rearing chickens is more than a livelihood; it is a reprieve that has created the catalyst for bonding over life's challenges and joys.

The women are all different in character and their backgrounds are just as varied, but from Sunday to Sunday, they meet in a little shed in their rural community to clean, pack away eggs, and tend to the chickens which they depend on for their income.

The group started their egg production business in 2010 when they were approached by the Local Initiative Facility for the Environment (LIFE), a non-profit organisation that helps to strengthen grass-roots economic projects. The women were a part of a benevolent society then in their community, and LIFE asked them to develop a proposal for a project that they could sustain.

"We came together and we identified this project," said president of MGEG Hernetta Gordon.

"We did a survey and we found out that there were no other egg farms in the area and when we checked the supermarkets and did our marketing we found that people would have to go as far as St Ann," she said.

Their first meeting was in August of that year, and with the help of Velva Lawrence from LIFE they managed to produce a proposal which they presented to the Inter-American Foundation for funding. The group received funding to secure 500 chickens so that by October they were able to establish their fowl coop and open up for business. Six months after, they got an additional 500 chickens from the group.

The group initially started with eight women and two men to assist with the more difficult tasks like lifting the bags of feed. However, one of the women has since been recruited to the police force. Through teamwork they manage to collect, pack away and distribute up to 90 dozens of eggs per day.

"We supply supermarkets in Gayle and Port Maria, we go to farmers' market every Friday and we charter taxi and drive around the communities and sell eggs," Gordon said.

The mother of two said through the money she gets from the egg sale, she has been able to support her daughters, one of whom is in secondary school and the other at the University of Technology in St Andrew.

"I throw a little partner from it and while it is not enough for the college one, for the high school one I can pay her school fee," said Gordon, who also does farming with her husband.

Retired schoolteacher Sislyn Daye, who was busily polishing a tray of eggs when All Woman visited the farm last week, has no problem getting up early in the mornings to join the other women for work. In fact, it is something she looks forward to.

"First we have to feed the fowls, we pick up the eggs, clean the nest, change the water and wipe the eggs," she said.

Having retired from teaching over 12 years ago, the egg production project and raising her two grandchildren keep her occupied.

"It's good because we didn't have an income and we were at home doing nothing and since this project came in, we can get a stipend to help ourselves," she said even while noting that, "the money is small, but it can do something."

As the chickens cackled in the hatchery, the women all huddled together in their little board structure sharing how the project has impacted their lives. Inside too were huge boxes to assist with delivery, trays of eggs and a two-burner gas stove where a pot of rice and another with curry chicken simmered. It was nearing lunch time and the assigned cook for the week, Jacinth Easy, kept a close watch over the pots as the other women busied themselves with preparing the eggs for distribution. The mother of two said she too was appreciative of the stipend she received from the egg hatchery.

"I have a little shop, but that is not carrying as much. But with the shop, this, and their father, it carries me through," she said.

The demand for eggs grew far more than the women had initially anticipated; especially during the Christmas and Easter seasons. Given the growing demand, the women had no choice but to increase production, but they did not have the funds to do so. As such they applied for a grant from the Digicel Foundation which last year gave them $1.2 million to construct a second coop and to assist with the purchasing of 500 chickens. They are also expecting an additional 500 chickens from Digicel which have already been ordered.

The women currently have 1300 chickens, but they say they would ideally love to expand their business into selling broilers, but not enough funds are available for that at the moment.

"There is a wider market for chicken meat than for eggs," Gridette Lyons, another of the women and spokesperson for the group, noted.

"Egg is something that after a certain time you have to throw it away, but broilers are now in demand because a lot of the farmers who used to raise broilers here have to stop doing so because the chicken feed is too expensive," she said.

She said they have to sell out their chickens after one year and six months because they stop producing, but they hope the selling of chicken will become a regular part of the business soon. This new business, she believes, will help to generate more income for them, since the earnings they currently receive are very small. As a result of their small earnings, the women say they are unable to purchase some of the things they would need to make the project a more viable one.

But despite the challenges, the women are hopeful for the future and are just happy to have a job that they enjoy.

"We have this social group here and it's healthy, I mean if you sneak up on us here any given day, you would find us laughing," said Lyons.

"No matter how many problems you have a yard, by the time you reach here, you forget it," she said.

It is this camaraderie that exists among them, that has caused Lyons' cousin Janet Lyons to defy her doctor's orders that she go on bed rest following a recent surgery, to join the others on a regular basis. The women are also highly respected in their community for their generosity. In addition to giving away eggs to the elderly, they also contribute some of their produce to the nearby Mount Angus Primary and Junior High School to supplement their school feeding programme each week.

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Life in the hatchery - Mile Gully women find income in egg production