Through two of the country’s leading poultry firms - Avinash Hatchery and Pro Biotech Industries -- the project will work to strengthen the technical skills of 3,000 poultry farmers, directly impacting 40 per cent of the industry. The SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility, managed by IFC in partnership with the UK government and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, is leading this initiative.

Officials of the partner poultry firms said that IFC’s expertise will help them address quality and cost challenges of inputs, and reduce business risks.

As part of this broad initiative, a recent two-day training session on poultry farming covered disease management, bio-security, vaccination, brooding, and shed management. The project has so far completed 88 such sessions, training 2,000 poultry farmers, nearly a fifth of them women.

Following IFC assistance in redesigning its feed production mill and training staff, Pro Biotech won the country’s first ‘Nepal Standard’ Award in 2011.

“Supporting the development of sustainable agribusiness is a priority for IFC in South Asia,” said Jeeva A. Perumalpillai-Essex, IFC’s Regional Sustainable Business Advisory Manager. “This project will create opportunities and increase incomes in an industry characterized by small farmers operating at the base of the pyramid.”

According to IFC’s Sustainable Energy Financing report on Nepal’s industry, the poultry industry contributes around 3 percent to Nepal’s GDP, with total investment of $334.26 million. Despite its contribution to the national economy, the industry’s performance suffers from low productivity and weak technical skills of the poultry farmers.