Poultry International

Cambodian egg producer works closely with Charoen Pokphand

Ms. Chhay Sokpov’s egg farm in Combodia’s Keansvay district, Kandal province, is located close to Phnom Phen, Sokpov works closely with Charoen Pokphand which has a feed mill nearby, and supplies 13 percent crude protein layer diets. Charoen Pokphand also provides the chicks, which are now bred locally.

The farm has four large sheds with high ridges to allow air to circulate, as there is no artificial ventilation. Each shed contains over 3,000 birds, with the birds being housed two to a cage. Feed is delivered in bags with hand feeding taking place twice a day. Feed arrives in 40 kg sacks. After being carefully cut open and emptied, these sacks are hung together as the sacking doubles as excellent sunblinds. Within the sheds, droppings collect on the floor and this is scraped up and sold to arable farms as manure.

“The farm has been
established for 30 years and
now has 12,000 layers and is run
by a staff of 11,” commented
Ra Sovanna, technical manager
for Olmix (Cambodia). “Many
poultry farms were wiped out
by bird flu in 2004, but this farm
luckily escaped infection.”
Six of the farm’s staff are family
members with the other five being
hired hands, who spend much of their
working day collecting, cleaning and
sorting eggs. After being collected,
eggs are graded by weight and
30,000 eggs are delivered every three
days by road to the central market in
Phnom Penh. Dealers sell the eggs
with a 30 percent markup. As well as
supplying chicks and feed, Charoen
Pokphand also provides technical
support with regard to the vaccination
program against Newcastle and
other diseases, and also provides
staff training. If required, medication
is given via the drinking system.