Asian Research Journal of Current Science

Malnutrition among school-age children remains a major public health challenge in Ethiopia, affecting physical growth, cognitive development and educational performance. This descriptive field demonstration documented the implementation and early operational performance of improved poultry production integrated with a Home-Grown School Feeding program through the “One Egg for a Child” initiative at Murancho Qutala Elementary School, Hawella Woreda, Sidama Region, Ethiopia, under the SAPLING Project of the Tropical Poultry Genetic Solutions Platform. Poultry-production and enterprise records were compiled from January to April 2024, while egg distribution to participating schoolchildren was documented separately following initiation of the school-feeding component. A poultry demonstration center using Bovans Brown layer chickens was established and managed under improved husbandry practices. A total of 1,200 two-month-old pullets were stocked. During the recorded production period, more than 61,000 eggs were produced, and surplus egg sales generated approximately ETB 500,000 in gross revenue. A total of 4,250 eggs were distributed to 100 nutritionally vulnerable schoolchildren, with each participating child receiving one boiled egg on designated school-feeding days. Gross revenue from surplus egg sales contributed to the purchase of poultry feed during the observation period, while the initiative directly engaged five staff members in poultry management and school-feeding activities. Awareness meetings, demonstration visits and experience-sharing activities were conducted for students, teachers, parents and community representatives, covering improved poultry management, egg consumption and local marketing practices. As the demonstration did not include a control group, baseline measurements or direct assessment of nutritional and educational outcomes, the findings primarily describe implementation processes and early operational outputs rather than intervention effectiveness. The findings demonstrate the short-term operational feasibility of linking a school-based poultry enterprise with egg provision for selected schoolchildren and provide a basis for longer-term evaluations of its nutritional, educational and economic effects.