IFAD Helped Channat Build a Future in Native Chicken Production

In Kampong Chhnang Province, Mr Soy Channat’s journey shows how targeted support can turn setbacks into opportunity. He began with just five hens, raising them traditionally, but frequent disease, poor housing and limited technical knowledge led to repeated losses. “At that time, nothing worked,” he recalls. “I even considered migrating to Korea to earn money for my family.”

His turning point came in 2019, when he joined the IFAD-supported ASPIRE programme. There, he received practical training in native chicken production, feeding, vaccination, biosecurity and housing. “It opened my eyes,” he says. “I realised my failures were not because I was incapable; I simply had no skills. IFAD gave me the knowledge that changed my life.”

With the arrival of ASPIRE-AT in 2024, Channat expanded further by joining the Chreab Satrey Kla Harn Agricultural Cooperative, a producer organisation supported by the programme. Through stronger market linkages, cooperative support and mentoring, he moved from small-scale survival farming to more structured commercial production.

Today, he raises around 500 hens and 100 cocks, producing two commercial batches each festive season, sold at 18,000 riels per kilogram. He also sells about 1,200 vaccinated chicks per month at 5,500 riels each and 1,200 eggs per month at 1,000 riels each, supported by a supply contract with a supermarket in Phnom Penh.

“I am not just surviving anymore. I’m planning,” he says. “IFAD gave me the turning point I needed to change my life.”

Channat’s story shows how IFAD support is helping rural farmers build skills, connect to markets and grow more resilient livelihoods.