Poultry farming in the East Sepik province is set to further expand with a new hatchery established in the Yangoru- Saussia district. This new hatchery, located at Haripmo Farm, should enable the province to produce its own day- old chicks to supply the out-grower farmers starting in September. The new hatchery has the capacity to produce 20, 000 day-old a week, says the Farm Manager, Mr. Chris Prestwood. “We will start with producing 5,000-day-old chicks on September 1, 2024, and will ramp up to between 10,000 to 20,000 chicks a week,” Mr. Prestwood said. The Minister for International Trade and Investment and Yangoru-Saussia MP, Richard Maru is excited about this latest development in his electorate. “This is a very exciting news for the province as we will be able to support thousands of families in the district and two Sepik provinces to go into owning village-based chicken farms.” The people from areas along the Sepik River said it cost them up to K150 to buy a whole life chicken, which Mr. Prestwood described as ridiculous. “This ridiculous price will be a thing of the past for our province, with the day-old chicks being produced at our own farm under our Sepik Fresh label. We are happy that wholesalers in both Maprik and Wewak are already lining up to order from the farm to sell day-old chicks as distributors and our own people can go to the farm to place their orders,” said Minister Maru. He also added that the farm needs to be expanded next year to meet the demand for eggs, chicken meat, day-old chicks of both East and West Sepik provinces. “Chicken will become a major livestock industry in our two provinces, especially when our village-based chicken out- growers have their regular supply of day-old chicks produced at the Haripmo Farm to supply their total demand so they don’t have to wait for day-old chicks from Lae.”