Papua New Guinea has the fourth highest incidence of childhood malnutrition and stunting in the world. Nearly 50% of children are affected but in Bouganville the incidence rises to 80%. Most people live a rural subsistence existence collecting what food they can from their food gardens and the environment. Improved small-scale chicken keeping is a quick, easy and ideal solution to dietary shortages. The Kyeema Foundation has developed successful chicken keeping projects in Africa and Fiji and with the support of Rotary are endeavouring to replicate these in PNG and eventually the Solomon Islands. The initial programs are planned for Wau and Lae. The operation in Wau is especially urgent as it will assist a long term Australian resident of PNG, Donna Harvey-Hall, who is caring for 28 orphaned children whose parents have died of AIDS and are consequently outcasts in their wider communities
The first step in the programme will bring an Australian specialist in tropical chicken keeping to Lae to train a small number of master farmers and it is hoped that one of these will be from Bouganville. Once the master farmer has been trained the average cost for each new project will be about $10,000. The RCOB is hoping to obtain a district grant of $5,000 and contribute the remainder in order to set up the project in Wau.
