PoultryTech Bangladesh: Grand Opening of Nourish-SASSO Demonstration Farm

As part of the PoultryTechBangladesh initiative, a demonstration farm has been established at the premises of Nourish Poultry in Tangail, to showcase best practices in terms of farmhouse set-up, conduct trials for Hendrix Genetics’ SASSO breeds and act as a training center for staff of Nourish Poultry and selected (contract) farmers and third-party stakeholders, who will receive technical assistance.

On 28th of November, Mrs. Irma van Dueren, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, attended the event as the chief guest and inaugurated SASSO farm. In her words, “The Netherlands has a reputation of flourishing in the overall agricultural sector and we have been working with Bangladesh through different forms of partnerships over many decades now. I am glad to learn about the technicalities of the Nourish-SASSO trial farm and how the PoultryTechBangladesh consortium is working towards strengthening the overall Nutrition sector through the Poultry value chain in Bangladesh.”

Haruni Osman, Senior Policy Advisor, Food & Nutrition Security at Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, Sara van Hoeve, First Secretary at Netherlands Embassy in Bangladesh, Matthias Brienen, Director of Larive International, Zahedul Amin, Director of LightCastle Partners, Amber van Spronsen, Emerging Market Advisor of Larive International, Dipa Sultana, Senior Business Consultant and Project Manager of LightCastle Partners, Shahadat Hossain, Country Manager of Hendrix Genetics, Nurul Basar Sarkar, Project Coordinator of Nourish and others were also present.  

Nourish is a Bangladesh-based company active in poultry breeding, hatching, feed production, farming and (further) food processing. Nourish is a subsidiary of the Khaled Group of Companies.

SASSO is involved in the breeding of colored/traditional broilers. The company is a subsidiary of Hendrix Genetics, a Dutch-based multi-species animal breeding, genetics, and technology company.

Through trials (45-50 days each), Hendrix Genetics monitors the performance of three SASSO birds (each 1,000 Day Old Chicks) being ‘SASSOLI red’, ‘SASSO blend fast’, ‘SASSO blend faster’ at the demonstration farm in Tangail to get a better understanding of the technical performance of its breeds in Bangladesh under local circumstances. The bird performance is measured on the number of birds, weight, uniformity, feed consumption, mortality rates, variance, and physical observations. 

On 27 August 2023, Hendrix Genetics started the first trial. Results after 49 days indicated an increased weight percentage of 8%, 1.8% and 1.8% for the Sassoli, Sasso Blend Trad and Sasso Blend Fast breeds respectively. In addition, results indicate improved FCR and mortality rates. 

The trials aim to bring systemic improvements across the Bangladesh poultry sector and further strengthen the bilateral relationship between Hendrix Genetics and Nourish Poultry. The farmhouses at the premises of Nourish Poultry function as a demonstration location for farmers from central Bangladesh. The facility aims to showcase that investments in Dutch products and solutions are commercially attractive and applicable to Bangladeshi needs