The-Accountant-Jul-Aug-2016

TID BITS
Why I would raise chickens By Bill Gates
Below are excerpts of what philanthropist
Bill Gates said about rearing chickens:
Their foundation is interested in helping
with chicken rearing in parts of Africa.
If you were living on $2 a day, what
would you do to improve your life?
That’s a real question for the nearly 1
billion people living in extreme poverty
today. There’s no single right answer, of
course, and poverty looks different in
different places. But through my work
with the foundation, I’ve met many
people in poor countries who raise
chickens, and I have learned a lot about
the ins and outs of owning these birds.
(As a city boy from Seattle, I had a lot
to learn!) It’s pretty clear to me that just
about anyone who’s living in extreme
poverty is better off if they have chickens.
In fact, if I were in their shoes, that’s what
I would do—I would raise chickens.
Here’s why:
• They are easy and inexpensive to take
care of. Many breeds can eat whatever
they find on the ground (although it’s
better if you can feed them, because
they’ll grow faster). Hens need some
kind of shelter where they can nest, and
as your flock grows, you might want
some wood and wire to make a coop.
Finally, chickens need a few vaccines. The
one that prevents the deadly Newcastle
disease costs less than 20 cents.
• They’re a good investment.
Suppose a new farmer starts with
five hens. One of her neighbors
owns a rooster to fertilize the
hens’ eggs. After three months,
she can have a flock of 40 chicks.
Eventually, with a sale price of
$5 per chicken—which is typical
in West Africa—she can earn
more than $1,000 a year, versus
the extreme-poverty line of about
$700 a year.
• They help keep children
healthy. Malnutrition kills more
than 3.1 million children a year.
Although eating more eggs—
which are rich in protein and
other nutrients—can help fight
malnutrition, many farmers
with small flocks find that it’s more
economical to let the eggs hatch, sell
the chicks, and use the money to buy
nutritious food. But if a farmer’s flock is
big enough to give her extra eggs, or if
she ends up with a few broken ones, she
may decide to cook them for her family.
• They empower women. Because
chickens are small and typically stay
close to home, many cultures regard
them as a woman’s animal, in contrast
to larger livestock like goats or cows.
Women who sell chickens are likely
to reinvest the profits in their families.
Zimbabwean banks forced to limit cash
withdrawals.
Blackout hits Kenya
A nationwide blackout that hit
A nationwide blackout that hit
Kenya recently was caused by a
monkey tripping a transformer at
a hydropower plant, leading to the
loss of more than 180 megawatts
from the grid, power producer
Kenya Electricity Generating
Company (KenGen) said.
Power distributor Kenya Power
and KenGen said electricity supply
was knocked out at 11.30 a.m. local
time after a technical fault at Gitaru
Hydro power station. KenGen,
the East African country’s biggest
power producer, runs the station.
“A monkey climbed on the roof of
Gitaru Power Station and dropped
onto a transformer tripping it. This
caused other machines at the power
station to trip on overload resulting
in a loss of more than 180 MW
from this plant which triggered a
national power blackout,” KenGen
said in a statement late on Tuesday.
“KenGen power installations
are secured by electric fencing
which keeps away marauding
wild animals. We regret this
isolated incident and the company
is looking at ways of further
enhancing security at all our power
plants.”- Reuters
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