History of the Kastom Gaden Association...

Page updated
Sun, Oct 14, 2007

Kastom Garden Association
PROJECTS

IMPROVED KOKORAKO FARMING
AIMS TO BOOST YIELD

The improved chicken-keeping system developed at the Kastom Gaden Association's (KGA) Burns Creek project base aims to improve yield and serve as a training facility and model for village-based chicken keeping in the Solomon Islands.

A 'deep litter' pen reinforced against semi-wild dogs. This was one of several early designs tried at Burns Creek.

Known as Improved Local Kokorako Farming ('kokorako' is Solomon Islands Pijin for 'chicken'), the system was developed by Australian poultry expert, Russell Parker. Russell, a TerraCircle associate, has considerable experience in the Solomons and has provided training in poultry keeping.

The Burns Creek system is managed as a small business enterprise and is used to educate village youth who spend time there learning improved fixed-site farming, seed saving and poultry keeping as part of the KGA's training programme.

Chickens were introduced at Burns Creek soon after the office and farm were established. In those days, however, it was sometimes a struggle.

Local replaces imported feed

Food was derived from local sources and included waste from the tuna cannery and the flour mill as well as garden and coconut waste.

Imported kokorako feed, which comes from Australia or New Zealand, is expensive and would consume too great a portion of villager's incomes. KGA staff wanted to develop an approach to kokorako keeping that was compatible with the low-external input approach used in their agricultural training (LEISA - Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture).

The pens were of the 'deep litter' type in which a thick layer of mulch was placed on the ground. This was cleaned out weekly and the soiled mulch used in the gardens.

Pens defend against predators

The birds were kept in small pens and released just before sundown each day so they could forage for insects and vegetable food in the gardens.

The idea had been to make lightweight cages of bamboo, poultry wire or planks - whatever was available. The chickens were to be moved to different garden beds to consume crop residue, fertilise the beds with their droppings and scratch up the soil ready for planting.

Unfortunately, the bamboo cages proved no deterrent to a pack of semi-wild dogs that terrorised and killed many of the birds. The dogs simply chewed through the cages.

On one occasion, a young boy from Joini Tutua's organic farm, which adjoins the KGA project centre, decided to deal with the dogs and spent the night on the verandah ready to defend the chickens with a spear. Sure enough, in the early hours and under the full moon, the dogs stealthily approached the pens through the long grass. The spear missed but the chickens were saved on that occasion.

It was clear that the lightweight cages would have to be reinforced with hardwood planks. This rendered them immovable although it kept out the dogs. The cages, of which there were two housing around seven chickens each and measuring about 2.5 x 1.3 metres, ended up looking like fortifications. In reality, this is what they were.

A low external input approach

LEISA - Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture - is the methodology adopted for the KGA's agricultural training. The new Improved Local Kokorako Farming system is compatible with this approach.

The aim is to improve the diets of villagers and provide an income earning opportunity for minimal cost. This is important in a country in which most of the villages follow a semi-subsistence economy. Reducing costs brings kokorako farming into the reach of more people.

The LEISA approach to improved kokorako farming uses:
•	local materials for the construction of housing and fencing
•	the hardy local chickens as the basis for cross-breeding with imported varieties to improve productivity
•	local materials for feeding.

Housing

Solomon Island kokorako are usually left to free range through the village. This has a few disadvantages:
•	the collection of eggs is difficult; it may be hard to find where the chickens lay
•	the management of the flock is difficult
•	disease is difficult to monitor
•	it is not possible to protect the birds from predators
•	the flock cannot be improved through cross-breeding.

To simplify management, the Improved Local Kokorako Farming system houses the chickens in a substantial kokorako house. Depending on the number of chickens kept, the house is divided into rooms into which the chickens can be divided according to age. Feeding takes place in the rooms and age segregation avoids the larger birds out-competing the younger for food.

The chicken houses at the Burns Creek centre are made of local materials. The building is divided into three rooms with nesting boxes, feeder and perches. The design was developed by TerraCircle associate, Russell Parker.

For reasons of cost and availability, the kokorako house is made of local materials:
•	walls are made from the bamboo that grown in the bush
•	the leaf of the sago palm, a traditional buildng material in the Solomons, is used for the roof
•	as a mesh for doors and windows, strips of thin bamboo replace poultry wire, an imported material
•	windows are provided for the ventilation to help maintain a healthy environment
•	each room has perches adequate for the number of birds, laying boxes (where eggs are laid) and a feeder
•	the floor may be made of split bamboo slats or broken coral.

The kokorako house provides a shady refuge from the hot sun and is predator-proof.

A scratch yard fenced with bamboo, poultry wire, old fishing net or a living fence is provided in front of the kokorako house.

Feeding

The same principles used to improve the diet of villagers are applied to kokorako keeping. This classifies feed into three types:
•	energy food - carbohydrates such as root crops (cassava, yam, sweet potato) as well as grains like sorghum (all of which can be grown by the kokorako farmer)
•	body building food - protein such as fish meal, grain and greens
•	protective food - vitamins and minerals derived from green and fruiting vegetables.

At the project centre many of the food types are grown near the chicken house. These include a Japanese green, sorghum, which produces a large seed head and Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan), a leguminous shrub that produces pods of black seed. The growing of feed reduces costs and promote self-reliance in inputs.

To ensure that the kokorako eat a balanced diet and get enough of each food type:
•	feed is presented in a split bamboo container of three compartments into which each food type is placed separately; the kokorako eat as much of each type as they need; the container is equipped with a stand to stop it rolling
•	chickens are separated into age groups so that the older, larger birds do not outcompete the smaller, younger chickens for food; this is done by separating the kokorako into different rooms in the kokorako house; at the project centre the newly-born birds are kept in small, separate houses with the mother chicken until they grow large enough to be placed in the main chicken houses.

Fresh water is provided every day.

Hens and their young chickens are separated into small houses to ensure they receive sufficient food and water

Management

A daily watering and feeding regime ensures the birds are monitored for disease and egg production.

The rooms are cleaned weekly, the wastes being used as fertiliser on the food gardens.

The project centre has a separate building used as a kokorako hospital. Sick birds are isolated from the flock to prevent the spread of disease. Where available, kastom (traditional) medicines used to treat them.

Breeding

The hardy, smaller local varieties are used for breeding with imported varieties. This produces chickens that:
•	have the hardiness of the adapted local varieties
•	incorporate the productivity (eggs, meat) of the imported varieties.

Kept within a managed system, such birds form the basis of a productive flock.

The Burns Creek system

The Improved Local Kokorako Farming system at the Burns Creek project centre is used to trial new ideas and to monitor the performance of the system.

Trainees spending time at the centre get to understand how the system works and to assess its potential for themselves.

>> next project: Integrated Pest Management Project

Chicken keeping

Chicken keeping at the Burns Creek project base used to be a makeshift business.

Now it has been systematised to demonstrate the potential of poultry keeping to improve local diets and earn income.

Kastom Garden Association PROJECTS

IMPROVED KOKORAKO FARMING AIMS TO BOOST YIELD