George, a SALT microloan client and poultry farmer in Ghana, specializes in egg production. When some SALT staff members attended a microloan meeting in his village in rural Ghana, he led them up a hill to where he has his barns.
One barn had about 500 laying hens that, according to George’s meticulous records, produce about 450-500 eggs a day. A second barn had an older group of laying hens. These chickens were past their prime and were being sold off as meat birds in small lots as people asked for them.
In addition to raising laying hens, George also has meat chickens at certain times of the year. There is a limited market for chicken as many rural Ghanaians eat chicken only on special occasions, such as holidays. George knows his people and culture, so he is able to identify which parts of the year there is a good market for chickens. When our staff visited, he had a flock of about 400 that would be ready for Christmas, a time when even the poorer locals would splurge on a fresh chicken to share with family and friends.
“Meeting George was an inspiration,” wrote one of the SALT staff members who visited him. “As I saw him carefully collect the group’s teaching manuals and store them for the next meeting, I sensed his mature leadership and praised God for the change that a loan, which we might consider small, is making for him.”
