Sunday, March 30, 2008

Why "Village Chicken"

Zambia’s population is currently estimated at some 12 million people. Two-thirds of this population lives in rural areas and is mostly occupied with subsistence farming, fishing, logging and small-scale trading. There are few industrial activities away from the main urban centres, along the line of rail.

Blah, blah, skip ahead to this: The poultry industry in Zambia is based on two distinct systems: the commercial system where broilers are obtained from hatcheries and reared for six weeks on commercial feed, and village system where chickens scavenge for food and take an average 20–22 weeks to reach maturity.

This does not answer the question of why "Village Chicken." We think it's kind of cute? Because on one of TJ's early visits here he made the mistake of ordering chicken when given the choice of regular chicken or village chicken? Because Owen already used our 13Socks for his blog?

Village chicken is free-range, uncaged, organic (we assume) and sustainable (we hope). This blog is about unraveling the assumptions of a Africa neophyte (anne), discovering a new place through the children's eyes (O and Finn), sharing the Africa Todd has come to know over the past 15 years of working and living all things Africa, and more importantly "Village Chicken" is about keeping friends and family on their toes.

No comments: