BACHOK I Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) shares the expertise of the livestock industry with the disabled (OKU) in an effort to help and encourage them to venture into entrepreneurship.

Vice Chancellor of UMK, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Noor Azizi Ismail said the expertise was shared through the Hybrid Free-Range Chicken Poultry Breeding Project to help nine OKU participants from the Kampung Aur Telong OKU Rehabilitation Centre (PROKA), Bachok.

“This project involves a total of 10 UMK students from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FPV) who contribute skills and knowledge of animal husbandry in terms of theory and practice as a guide to participants with disabilities to manage chicken farms.”

“They (students) provide expertise to the participants of this project starting from the breeding process to marketing and business,” he said after visiting the Hybrid Free-Range Chicken Breeding Project site at PROKA Kampung Bachok here today.

Earlier, the ceremony was officiated by the State Deputy Chairman of Welfare, Family Development and Women, YB Rohani Ibrahim.

“Apart from technical expertise, what is important is to change the minds of the participants involved in this project… if their minds change, this project will be successful, and after this we will try to involve many more students, including graduates who are waiting for jobs,” said Noor Azizi.

Elaborating further, he said the project will be implemented for a year from March to February 2022 with a total allocation of RM99,800 from the Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) zakat fund.

“This project also involves the cooperation of FPV UMK, UMK Research and Poverty Management Institute (INSPEK) and Kelantan State Rehabilitation Council (MPNK), and we target the free-range chicks to be able to grow to 24,000 chickens within a year of this project,” he said.