Thokozani Self Help group members from Mdlawuzweni village in Nkayi district are confident that their indigenous poultry project will double its income after receiving a grinding mill from one of Hand in Hand Zimbabwe’s partners Katarina Almqvis.

The 14 members say the donation of the grinding mill will go a long way in supporting their enterprise through the provision of a quicker and affordable way of processing poultry feed.

They added that the grinding mill will also aid over 100 surrounding households who previously had to walk long distances to process their livestock feed.

“We are so grateful for the support we received from Katarina as we previously used to walk approximately 10 to 15 km to the nearest grinding mill to access facilities to process our poultry feed,”.

“The grinding mill has drastically reduced the amount of labour and costs required to process poultry feed and has increased the time available to us to market and grow our poultry enterprise,” the group’s secretary Sihle Sibanda said.

To increase their income, the group is also plans to use their grinding mill to process livestock feed for resell.

The group which has been doing tremendously well since 2019 has previously received an incubator and building material to construct a standard fowl run under the auspices of the Community Upliftment Project (CUP) supported by Pontus Bonnier.

This support has over the past two years helped the 14-member group to exceptionally increase productivity in their poultry enterprise.

“Our poultry enterprise has greatly expanded and we know the donations we received from Mr Pontus and Katarina will help us reach greater heights.

“All the members of the group now earn a decent living through the enterprise and the community is very grateful as they are also benefiting from the interventions,” Sihle Sibanda added.