Gazelle District in East New Britain is now producing day-old chicks (DOCs) to supply local poultry farmers in the province.
Member for Gazelle, Jelta Wong witnessed the presentation of the first batch of DOCs to farmers in the district this week.
He said the commercial chicken hatchery known as Gazelle Kakaruk is a subsidiary of the Gazelle Business Corporation Ltd established as an agricultural growth initiative for the expansion of available protein and SME opportunities to the people of Gazelle and ENB.
He said the aim of the project is to establish a Day-Old Chick operation to alleviate the supply pressures due to shortages and inconsistent supply of DOCs over previous years.
“An increase in DOC supply improves protein availability to the people and provides SME opportunities,” Mr Wong said.
He said Gazelle Kakaruk has a current Broiler Breeder flock imported from New Zealand ready for full production with several younger breeder flocks coming through to increase production leading into 2022 to fill the need for Broilers in the NGI market.
These flocks will produce the fertile eggs required to be hatched out in the Commercial Hatchery at Kerevat.
The Gazelle Kakaruk Hatchery is being built in two stages with Stage 1 already completed at Kerevat and DOC production has commenced with production slowly ramping up the supply into early 2022.
