Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale on Wednesday announced that it is providing $341,490 to OneEgg, a nonprofit that delivers eggs to children in developing countries.
The money will be used to build an egg-producing farm in Haiti that will provide animal protein to undernourished children while also establishing an economically sustainable business model, as eggs produced by the farm will be sold at local markets.
The farm will also provide jobs to local residents, and any proceeds from the egg sales will be used to operate the farm. At full capacity, it is expected to have three laying houses and a brooding house capable of holding 10,500 birds that will lay 6,000 to 7,000 eggs.
Tyson Foods and its wholly owned subsidiary, Cobb-Vantress, has provided technical assistance and training for previous OneEgg projects in Rwanda and Uganda. The Haiti project marks the first financial commitment from the company.
“Tyson Foods and Cobb-Vantress firmly believe in offering assistance to those in need by sharing our knowledge and experience,” Dave Juenger, senior advisor for CVI support services at Cobb-Vantress, said in a news release. “As a result, the children of Haiti have a greater chance at a healthy life, and the people of Haiti have a greater opportunity to be self-sufficient.”
Faculty and students from the University of Arkansas’ Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural Food & Life Sciences and the UA System Division of Agriculture will document the farm’s construction and economic model while conducting nutrition research on children receiving eggs as a means of project evaluation. The results will be published and presented throughout the agricultural academic community.
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