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Ducks in a basket as a micro-credit project

 

ducklings as micro credit in MadagascarA while back Zahana bought a dozen ducklings in a basket. We gave the basket to our partner in the village in the hope the ducklings may build the foundation for and income-generating project, though future eggs and ducks. A lesson we learned is that it is better to try a new idea with an individual that is willing to be an innovator. If the project is successful, we can scale it up and involve more people or groups.

Everybody jokingly calls the father of the family receiving the ducklings “water police”. He walks the entire water pipe system for the village to the mountains almost daily, checking if everything is working well, making sure there are no leaks. Should there be e.g. a leak (every water system is bound to break at some time) he has been trained by the water engineers on how to fix it. Being involved with Zahana for such a long time made him the ideal partner for such a pilot project.

Another lesson we learned is that despite the best efforts, sometimes nature takes a different turn. Out of the 12 ducklings only two survived. Lucky for us, it was a male and a female. The ‘water police’ was able to raise a few new ducklings since. Basedon a poultry specialist’s feedback, we might have chosen the wrong time of the year, when ducklings are very susceptible to disease and environmental factors. We plan to repeat the experiment with the same family in a more favorable season again.

choosing the ducklings in the market

Choosing the ducklings in the market

feeding the new ducklings

Feeding the new duckling some rice