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More than 60% of global egg production comes from Asia. China, India, Japan, and Indonesia are amongst the largest egg-producing countries. The growth rate for production continues to soar with growing demand. This signals an increased number of layer hens reared in factory farms for commercial egg production.
Although there is a growing demand for higher welfare sustainable food products and cage-free egg commitments from food companies and hotel groups, the cage-free market is not growing at the same pace as its conventional counterpart. The reason for this is the low supply and high operating costs and retail prices. A study was conducted to investigate the perspectives of cage egg producers on the adoption of cage-free systems in China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The study revealed that the greatest barriers to an effective transition were land availability, cost, management, and disease mitigation. The latter three can be addressed with “training, knowledge, and access to experts in cage-free operations”. Therefore, local producer capacity-building is crucial to address these barriers and support Asia’s transition to higher welfare practices.
The Impact Sponsorship Programme aims to support cage-free egg production in Asia by providing financial aid for capacity-building. The programme benefits farmers who require basic knowledge about cage-free egg production, comprehensive hands-on lessons to operate a farm, or technical/business expertise to start a new farm. To help farmers progress through the funnel, we have designed training courses and consultation services into the curriculum.
We offer three sponsorship tiers to support farmers in their cage-free journey:
Ideally, a farmer would complete the first two prerequisites (online course and on-farm training) before launching a cage-free farm.
This self-paced online course contains 22 learning modules which introduce animal welfare and cage-free husbandry, rearing, hen health and behaviour monitoring, biosecurity, disease prevention, and egg productivity. It was developed by GFP’s science and extension team and Netherlands-based Aeres University of Applied Sciences (AERES), and endorsed by academic institutions in Japan, Indonesia, and China. The course is available in various Asian languages.
This is an intensive 6-day course consisting of theoretical lessons, guest lectures, industry interactions, and farm visits. The farmers will learn valuable knowledge from an industry consortium of experts from genetics companies, cage-free housing and equipment suppliers, lighting companies, and ventilation companies. The training will be conducted at the Cage-free Innovation and Welfare Hub in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the first cage-free model farm and training centre in Southeast Asia, developed by GFP, AERES, and The Faculty of Animal Science at the Universitas Gadjah Mada. The Hub models how cage-free can be done successfully in the region, to encourage and accelerate an industry-wide transition and disrupt the current model of factory farming.
To help farmers get started, GFP provides technical guidance on transitioning from cage to cage-free systems and launching a new farm. This includes helping to identify suitable farmlands, perform business case calculations, and build the infrastructure. However, continuing to operate a productive and profitable cage-free farm can be challenging due to inconsistent demand and high production costs. Small-scale producers frequently face the issue of over-production when the market demand is low and seasonal. To address this, GFP provides ongoing support to farmers by helping create competitive advantages, including third-party certification, traceability systems, and facilitating market access.
Farmer capacity building to improve layer hen welfare
The Impact Sponsorship Programme offers flexibility in sponsoring one or multiple farmers for Tiers 1, 2 or 3, or through the capacity-building funnel. We conduct capacity-building activities on an as-needed basis and do not fix a timeline for them. For more information, please contact us at [email protected] or click here to make a donation today.
If you know anyone who might be interested in getting trained to transition to a cage-free farm, please connect them with us. We also welcome major food and hospitality businesses such as hotel groups, restaurants, and retailers, to get in touch and let us help their suppliers transition to cage-free egg production.
To hear more about our sponsorship programme and stay updated on our work, follow us on Facebook and Linkedin and subscribe to our newsletter.
Global Food Partners (GFP) is a science-based animal welfare consulting group supported by the EA Animal Welfare Fund and Open Philanthropy. Based in Singapore, we work with leading food corporations and egg producers to support their transition to higher-welfare cage-free egg sourcing and production in Asia — where there is a significant need for improvements to current agricultural practices and the potential for the most impact in improving the lives of farmed animals. We operate across nine key countries in Asia, including China and Indonesia, two of the world's leading egg-producing countries.
