Vigyan Ashram has introduced ‘scientific backyard’ poultry farming livelihood intervention to Economically Weaker Section (EWS) farmers of Velha & Ambegaon block of Pune district. This western-ghat picks in Pune district are known for hilly terrace, high rainfall & limited livelihood opportunities. The technology & livelihood improvement interventions are made with the objective of ‘promoting innovative technologies in poultry farming a sustainable income source to farmers’ under Department Science & Technology (DST, GoI) Strengthening, Upscaling, Nurturing Innovations for Livelihood (SUNIL) program (SEED Division).

On field training provided to 284 EWS farmers in xxx villages of Velha & Ambegaon block of Pune district. Farmers were trained in following important technologies through on-field training & demonstration. S N Selected technology intervention Output indicators 1 Egg incubation & brooding Farmers started sourcing chicks from authorized poultry breeders

2 Selection of improved breed KAVERI and DP cross breed of poultry

3 Low-cost housing & raring management practices A low-cost bamboo poultry cage structure standardized & on- field trainings conducted for target farmers 4 Feed management * Low Crude Protein (CP) and Metabolic Energy (ME) feed formulation hands-on training to farmers Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) based feeding for increasing CP in lower cost.

5 Disease management A vaccination kit designed for backyard poultry farming and field-trainings conducted for farmers.

6 Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) calculations & enterprise management Poultry value chain management trainings field-training for farmers. Note * - BSFL is produced from bio-waste as technology package for waste-to-feed regenerative farming.