BOXMEER, THE NETHERLANDS – Hendrix Genetics, a leading multi-species animal breeding company, is the recipient of a multi-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will enable the company to co-invest significant resources to develop poultry breeds tailored for Africa and deliver the animals to small-scale farmers.

Hendrix plans to accelerate the company’s genetic improvement of parent stock, activities that will include expanding testing birds under African conditions which will allow Hendrix to better breed chickens adapted to local climate, housing systems, feed and other conditions. The company’s primary expertise is in layer, turkey, swine, aquaculture and traditional poultry breeding.

“We will also investigate the opportunity to establish a grandparent facility in Africa for Africa to secure access to parent stock,” the company said. “Through collaboration with partners, we aim to improve the efficiency of the poultry value chain, which will lead to more affordable chickens for small-scale farmers.”

SASSO, the traditional poultry brand of Hendrix Genetics, currently supplies hundreds of thousands of parent stock to millions of African partners each year. In turn, those small-holder partners produce billions of table eggs and millions of chickens for meat, according to Hendrix.

“Investment in Recurrent Testing is an important step to develop the poultry value chain in Africa for Africa,” said Louis Perrault, senior advisor for SASSO. “More data insights will allow us to deliver even better parent stock and drive tailored technical support for this region.”

Leading the project is Dr. Naomi Duijvesteijn, program manager, Hendrix Genetics. Dr. Duijvesteijn will coordinate the different activities to achieve the ambitious targets set together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure an impactful and effective program.

“Animal genetics has already played a key role in improving the sustainability of animal production in different parts of the world and will continue to do so in the future,” Dr. Duijvesteijn said. “With the combination of Hendrix Genetics’ mission to support the global food challenge with high-quality genetics and investment in this program, the future will look brighter for agriculture and food production in Africa.”