Integrated Business Model and Innovation Packaging and Scaling Readiness (IPRS) workshop report on KALRO KC1, KC2, and KC3 improved indigenous dual-purpose chicken breeds

A 2.5-day workshop on the commercialization and scaling of the KC1, KC2 and KC3 improved indigenous chicken
breeds was held in Naivasha, Kenya, in May 2026. Organized by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), the workshop brought together KALRO
and ILRI staff, other research and technical teams, Kenya-county-facing actors in the poultry value chain, private sector
poultry value chain actors, development partners, chicken hatchery and multiplication actors, chicken
feed and input stakeholders, and market-oriented scaling partners. The purpose of the workshop was to move
the KC breeds from promising research outputs into a structured commercialization and scaling model capable
of improving farmer income, household nutrition, youth and women enterprise opportunities, and private-sector
participation in Kenya’s poultry value chain.
The workshop established that the KC1, KC2 and KC3 birds should not be commercialized through a narrow direct sales
model where KALRO simply produces and sells chicks to farmers. Instead, the strongest pathway for scaling
is a controlled hybrid portfolio model in which KALRO protects the genetics of these breeds, ensures their quality,
manages their certification, and provides technical backstopping and convenes partners while private hatcheries,
multipliers, county governments, NGOs, cooperatives, agrodealers, finance actors and market partners take on the
scaling functions that KALRO should not carry alone.
The KC1, KC2 and KC3 breeds present a strong opportunity to build a nationally relevant dual-purpose chicken
commercialization platform that advances farmer income, household nutrition, youth and women enterprise
development, public-sector agricultural delivery, and private-sector participation in poultry genetics, multiplication,
distribution and advisory services. The central recommendation is to commercialize the breeds within a harmonized
KALRO improved indigenous chicken portfolio, with each breed retaining a differentiated market role. KC1 should
be positioned as a livelihood-oriented and accessible dual-purpose breed suiting counties, small producers,
medium-sized chicken multipliers and mother units. KC2 should be positioned as a productivity-driven breed
requiring a strong SOP-led multiplication, licensing and bundled-service model and suiting Kenya’s coastal region
and county/smallholder buyers, commercial chick producers and input suppliers. KC3 should be positioned as
the strongest market-facing inclusive-enterprise breed suiting smallholders, young people, women, people abled
differently, cooperatives and institutional aggregation.
The business model for all three breeds relies on five mutually reinforcing systems: a genetics and quality core, a
licensed multiplication network, an aggregated distribution system, a farmer adoption and advisory system, and a
structured market linkage system. These systems together form the route-to-market: KALRO breeding and genetic
stewardship/improvement → parent stock multiplication → licensed hatchery and day-old-chick production →
multiplication/brooding/mother units → aggregated distribution → end users and enterprise groups → markets
and offtake.
The outputs of the Innovation Packages and Scaling Readiness (IPSR) part of the workshop confirm that the limiting
factor in scaling these birds is not only their technical performance but whether KALRO and its partners can
assemble a complete innovation package around the breeds. The ‘enablers’ of this innovation named by workshop
participants on Day 2 of the workshop include: restructuring the grandparent breeding programme, mobilizing
resources, using the KALRO chicken franchise model, making good use of data and traceability systems, optimizing
feed quality and access, setting up appropriate legal instruments, arranging productive public-private partnerships
and/MOU arrangements, making flexible financing available, raising awareness of the breeds and enhancing their
market value, ensuring breed performance, targeted technology transfer and provision of digital services to women
and youths.
The business model generated a diversified revenue base. Near-term revenues should come from sales of day-old
chicks, month-old chicks or teen birds where viable, breeding cocks, parent stock, public-sector supply contracts
and contracts with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and development projects. Medium-term revenues
should come from licensing, royalties, training and advisory services, certification/accreditation, branded input
bundles and structured partnerships with commercial chick producers, agrodealers, cooperatives and financial
institutions.
The core recommendation is to move toward a controlled hybrid commercialization model. KALRO should retain
authority over the breeds’ genetics, standards, certification, parent stock and brand. Licensed and accredited
partners should deliver much of the multiplication, distribution, input supply, farmer support and market-facing
work. Kenya counties, NGOs, cooperatives, savings and credit cooperative organizations (SACCOs), agrodealers,
agricultural extension providers and private chicken hatcheries should be deliberately integrated as functional
partners rather than treated as ad hoc buyers or implementers.