Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation (“Partnering for Innovation”), a USAID program, and EthioChicken, a fast growing company in Ethiopia, partnered to further develop EthioChicken’s marketing and sales in smallholder markets. The partnership focused on two regions of Ethiopia, Amhara and Tigray, served by EthioChicken’s primary production site, Mekelle Farm. EthioChicken imports parent stock of two improved chicken varieties, hatches them, and sells the day-old chicks to its fully trained, decentralized salesforce of agents. The partnership specifically worked to advance the agent training and integrate a nutrition-centered marketing campaign. These two primary activities model how improving sales promotes nutrition-sensitive development while sparking a more vibrant local economy; in this case, one where agents tending a flock of 2,000 birds can expect to see an average $2,500 income increase. The partnership particularly impacts women because backyard poultry production requires little land and capital, to which women often don’t have access.
