Kudumbashree’s Kerala Chicken crosses a crucial milestone of 100 retail outlets

The Kudumbashree project has expanded to Palakkad, supply in Malappuram to begin next month. It aims to strengthen broiler chicken production and marketing network so as to meet at least half the domestic demand

Kerala Chicken, a Kudumbashree enterprise launched to grab a pie of the broiler chicken business in the State, has crossed a milestone of 100 retail outlets.

Kerala Chicken was launched by the government at the fag end of 2017 to supply safe-to-eat chicken at a lower price. It was estimated that only 10% of the actual domestic demand of chicken was met from within the State. Kudumbashree’s mission was to strengthen the broiler chicken production and marketing network so that it could cater to at least half the domestic demand.

The project, implemented in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Kozhikode districts, recently added its 102nd counter. As many as 272 women chicken farmers have been part of the project, which delivers 24 tonnes of chicken to the market daily.

This month, the project spread its wings to Palakkad where the Kudumbashree plans to open 40 chicken farms and 20 Kerala Chicken outlets. It is expected that 4 tonnes of chicken will be sold in the district every day through these outlets. Twenty-two farms have opened in the first phase.

Next month, Kerala Chicken will begin supply in Malappuram too. The project will then be expanded to two more districts, taking the number of districts where Kerala Chicken has a presence to 10. Kudumbashree says a unique selling proposition of Kerala Chicken is traceability of poultry meat.

The Kerala Chicken farms are entrusted only to Kudumbashree members or their families. After an evaluation of the farm and approval, the Kudumbashree Broiler Farmers Company Ltd. (KBFCL) that unifies all support systems for production, marketing, and sale of chicken under the Kerala Chicken brand enters into an agreement with the farmer. Day-old chicks, feed, medicines, and vaccination are provided to the farmers and in 40-45 days, the birds are bought back and transported to the Kerala Chicken outlets. The KBFCL provides a maximum of ₹13 as rearing charge to farmers for 1 kg of chicken. The payment is done within 15 days of lifting of the birds.

A few months ago, the KBFCL had achieved a sales turnover of ₹100 crore.