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Guyana Prison Service poultry project seen as timely
A chicken coop that holds approximately 3000 chickens.
Established in 2007, the Guyana Prison Service Poultry Project, based at the New Amsterdam Prison, has been regarded as a timely initiative by Food For The Poor (Guyana) Inc., in collaboration with the Guyana Prison Service.
Food For The Poor (Guyana) Inc. aims to use such an initiative to make inmates appreciative of an alternative economic activity to other endeavours they may intend to pursue after they would have served their sentences. Additionally, it is hoped that the project will expand to the extent that it becomes one of the leading producers of meat birds, supplying not only the Guyana Prison Service, but also the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), and other such entities.
According to Alvin Doris, Senior Public Relations Personnel for Food For The Poor (Guyana ) INC., inmates would gain practical vocational experience and an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the self-sustainability of the Prison Service.
$3.3M was contributed to the construction of a large chicken coop, and to procure facilities for chicken-rearing. A first batch of 1,000 broiler chicks was committed to the cause.
He said that for phase two of the project, a further $2.5M was plugged into further development. The project has not looked back since. It is seeing its 13th 1000-bird batch.
Mr Yeoland Richards, Assistant Prison Officer with responsibility for chicken rearing and farming, expressed a great measure of pleasure at the progress the project has been making. He explained that the inmates receive invaluable experience in poultry rearing.
He was keen to point out as well, the reality that the mortality rate of the meat birds is generally under 10 percent, and that the average live bird, after six weeks, can weigh up to six pounds. This chicken is used to meet the dietary needs of inmates nationwide, and at a considerably lower cost than what obtains at the market.
The facilities include a large pen that can comfortably accommodate the rearing of up to 3000 meat birds at once, a plucking machine, water facilities, a slaughter pen, feed shed, and supporting facilities.
Similar satisfaction was expressed by Matron Maple Blades-Nedd, Chief Agriculture Officer of the Guyana Prison Service, who was eager to register her thoughts on the initiative: “We have been progressing well. We started with the pen and 1000 chickens.
“Ever since, we have been able to build a trestle for a water tank, a slaughter pen and a feed shelf within the pen”. Ms Blades-Nedd continued: “All inmates working on the project are given a stipend with the sale of every batch. The prisons on a whole have been benefitting.”
Superintendent of Prisons, Second-in-Charge of the New Amsterdam Prison, Kevin Browne, opined, “The project is a good initiative. It gives a scope for entrepreneurship, and builds an industry within the [Guyana] Prison Service, at the New Amsterdam Prison, in particular, where it is based”.
He added, “It also provides training opportunities to inmates, and most importantly, it provides an on-the-spot source of dietary supply”.
In an invited comment, Director of Prisons of the Guyana Prison Service, Dale Erskine, was no less enthusiastic to express his delight at the significance of the poultry project: “It is an excellent project! It is meaningful and sustainable. The way it was put together is great! It helps prisoners with training, and it also meets the dietary demands of prisoners everywhere. It is one that should be duplicated, not only at the prisons, but elsewhere”.
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