Characteristics of chicken production systems in rural Burkina Faso: A focus on One Health related practices and food security.

A survey was conducted in Bure district, North West Ethiopia, from 2007 to 2008 to assess the existing village chicken production system. A participatory rural appraisal and a formal survey were used to collect all the relevant data, using a multi-stage sampling technique. Seven farmer administrative kebeles (two from high land, three from mid altitude and two from low land agro-ecologies) and a total of 280 village chicken owner households were considered for the study. The result revealed that the dominant (83%) chicken production system was an extensive/traditional type of production, using a majority (97%) of local chicken ecotypes, managed mainly on scavenging with seasonal supplementation of home grown grains and household food leftovers. The purposes of chicken production were sale for income (51.4%), egg hatching for replacement (45%), consumption (44.3%), use of birds for cultural and/or religious ceremonies (36.4%) and egg production (40.7%). The average flock size per household was 13 (ranged 1 - 57), with a hen to cock ratio of 3.7:1. Only 22.1% of chicken owners prepared a separate overnight house for birds and the rest (77.9%) kept birds in various night sheltering places. The result revealed that 97.5% of interviewed chicken owners experienced chicken disease problems, mainly Newcastle disease (98.2%). The result indicated that 95% of village chicken owners used only traditional means to treat sick birds. The average age of cockerels at first mating and pullets at first egg were 24.6 weeks and 27.5 weeks, respectively. The average number of eggs laid/clutch was 16 (ranged 8 - 28) and the number of total clutch periods/hen/year was 4 (ranged 2 - 6). The annual egg production performance of local hens, under farmer’s management condition, was 60 eggs/hen (ranged 24 -112). The average number of eggs incubated/hen was 13 and 11 chicks, on average, were hatched from them. The average hatchability performance of local hens was 81.7%. However, survivability of young chicks was only 60.5% (ranged 0 -100%). High hatchability performance of local hens (81.7%) and high mortality of young chicks (39.5%) were the two contradictory features for the existing village chicken production system of the district. Seasonal diseases outbreaks (84.3%) and predation (11.4%) were the major causes of chicken loss in the district. Women were the major responsible members of the household involved in various chicken husbandry activities like cleaning bird’s house (38.6%), feeding birds (81.7%), selling birds (83%) and selling eggs (54.6%). Only 37.5% of interviewed chicken owners got appropriate extension services related to modern chicken management practices. The result of the study revealed that there is a great interest to boost up the existing village chicken production and productivity. This should be considered as an opportunity and potential to design and implement interventions, aimed at improving production and productivity of village chicken in the district. Key words: Ethiopia, local chicken ecotypes, village chicken production system.

Village chickens are an important source of income and protein for village people in Bangladesh, like in many other developing countries. Since the productivity of the chickens is low, their production might be improved through better management practices. In this regard, village chicken production and management practices were investigated to know the present status and its limitations. We selected 150 farmers from 3 Upazilas (Babuganj, Bakerganj, and Barishal Sadar) in the Barishal district and collected information in a structured questionnaire and through observations. The results show that the village chicken production system was extensive with a low amount of supplemental feed. 87.34% of farmers provided supplement feed to their chickens once or twice a day, while the rest of the farmers did not provide any supplement feed. All of the farmers had a poultry shelter to keep their chickens at night, but we found the shelters to be almost dirty. They were reluctant to clean the shelter, as only 14.67% of farmers cleaned the shelters once a month, while the others did not. Chickens of multiple age groups were kept in the same shelter without maintaining biosecurity. As a preventive measure, 58.67% of farmers vaccinated their chickens, primarily for Newcastle disease. They did not maintain a vaccination schedule. Only 15.33% and 4% of farmers practiced deworming and external parasite control, respectively. For the mating of chickens, the farmers did not select males and females. Though the village chickens seem to be reared and consumed by chicken owners, only 32.87% of chicken products were consumed by chicken owners, and the rest were sold at village markets. Under these circumstances, it can be stated that the low productivity of village chickens could be due to lack of adequate nutrition, unhealthy housing, disease outbreaks, unplanned mating, and improper management practices. The practices of dietary supplements, providing healthy housing, ensuring a vaccination schedule, mating with good partners, and good management practices could improve the productivity of village chickens in Bangladesh.

Although South Africa is considered to be food secure at the country level, large numbers of households within the country remain food insecure (De Cock et al. 2013). Food inaccessibility in many rural areas of South Africa has manifested itself in many formats but has positioned poor households to struggle to meet their basic household requirements and be more vulnerable to food insecurity. Details of such food insecurity, however, may differ (De Cock et al. 2013; D’Haese et al. 2013). This study aimed to investigate the contributions of smallholder farmers toward household food security in Chabelane Village, in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A quota sampling method was used to select 20 smallholder farmers in Chabelane Village. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and the analysis of data was done using thematic analysis. This study has highlighted the prevalence of food security status among smallholder farmers. Household food security in rural areas is a significant matter, as it is necessary to have appropriate access to healthy foods that lead to active life. Furthermore, the study highlighted the smallholder farmers’ agricultural practices which are crop farming and livestock farming. Moreover, increased food supply, job opportunities, and income generation were highlighted as the contributions of the smallholder farmers toward household food security. However, the smallholder farmers in this study area experienced challenges such as lack of finances, water shortages, and lack of access to formal market. This study recommends access to financial aid through access to loans from the banks, raising awareness among smallholder farmers about the knowledge on how to access formal markets. Additionally, the Department of Agriculture or local municipality to provide water tanks or boreholes for smallholder farmers to have undisrupted access to water for productive farming practices. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the contributions of smallholder farmers towards household food security by providing valuable insights into the relationship between food security and smallholder farmers, particularly in Chabelane Village, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

A structured survey was conducted in Aneded district, North West Ethiopia to assess the production performance of existing village chicken and exotic breeds. A formal structured survey was used to collect all the relevant data, using a multi-stage sampling technique. Six farmer administrative district (three peri urban and three from rural area a total of 60 village chicken owner households were considered for the study. The result revealed that the dominant (60.9%) chicken production system was an extensive/traditional type of production, using scavenging with supplementation of homemade grains and household food leftovers. And average age of cockerels at first mating and pullets at first egg laying were 6.4 and 6.05 month respectively for local chickens 4.74 month and 5.5 month for exotic breed respectively. The average number of total clutch periods/hen/year was 2.88 (ranged 2 - 6) for locals chickens and annual egg production performance of local hen was 64.2 eggs/hen and 137 egg/hen/year for exotic chickens under farmer’s management condition. The result revealed that majority of interviewed chicken owners experienced chicken disease problems, mainly Newcastle disease (93.3%). The major constraint of production system were disease, feed shortage, and breed distribution, predator and market access. The present study ensured that there is a strong desire to increase existing village chicken production and productivity by using indigenous chicken and exotic breeds in a highly organized and intensive manner. Generally ensuring sustainable exotic chicken distribution, veterinary service and giving training in the district is important to make small holder farmers capable in better poultry production.

Food production and supply has been on the decline in Nigeria with a consequent impact on household food security. This study examined the influence of urban farming on household food security in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 159 farm households in a cross-sectional survey. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-economic characteristics, determine the food security status of urban crop farming households in the study area, and examine the effects of urban crop production on households’ food security status. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics while the statistical tools were Food Security Index (FSI) and Probit Regression Model (PRM). Results revealed that 84.9% of the respondents was male, 81.2% married. The average age, household size, and farm size were 49.6 years, 6 persons, 1.1 hectares respectively. Most (75.5%) of the respondents did not have access to consumption credit and 62.3% did not belong to any farmers association. Based on minimum daily energy requirement per adult equivalent of N230.8, 90.6% of the farm households was food secure.
 The PRM showed that age (β = -0.1, p<0.05), household size (β= -0.4, p<0.01) and economic efficiency (β = -61.6, p<0.05) reduced the probability of household food security while access to consumption credit (β= 1.7, p<0.05) and allocative efficiency (β = 67.9, p<0.05) increased the probability of household food security. The study concluded that urban farming significantly influence household food security.
 JEL Classification: Q11

Newcastle disease (ND) is a major limitation to the production, consumption and sales of village chickens in Africa. A pagrticipatory proportional piling exercise was conducted among village chicken farmers selected during focus group discussions held in eight communities in Bauchi State to assess their opinions on vaccination of their village chickens with thermostable Newcastle disease vaccine I-2 (I-2 NDV) and its benefits. The assessment involved 64 participants (8 from each community) whose chickens had received two I-2 NDV three months apart and 12 participants whose chicken had received only one I-2 NDV. Of the 64 farmers who initially were selected and had volunteered to participate in the study, two of the participants were not available to give their opinion on the importance and benefit of vaccination; while, eight of participants did not think the vaccine is important and have chosen not to participate in the assessment exercise. The remaining 54 participants had endorsed the vaccine with a total score of 100% (270/270). They also awarded 91.3% (283/310) of their scores to flock increase due to reduced mortality by I-2 NDV with the remaining 8.7% (27/310) of the scores indicating no flock increase. A probing of the reason why some of these farmers did not experience flock increase revealed the occurrence of fowl pox disease that has killed some of their chickens. The scores from participants whose chicken had received only one vaccine was 100% for both endorsement of the vaccine (60/60) and observation of flock increase (60/60). The study highlights I-2 NDV as an appropriate vaccine that could be used to control ND in village chickens in Bauchi State and beyond. Keywords : Newcastle disease, Thermostable Newcastle disease vaccine (I-2), Village chickens, Bauchi State, Nigeria

Nutrient deficiencies are a public health problem in Sri Lanka. Achieving food security is a major challenge due to unhealthy eating patterns. The nutritional status of a woman and her knowledge is a powerful indicator of the nutritional security of her children and household food security. Nutrition-related knowledge and attitude are necessary for dietary changes towards a healthier dietary pattern. For that reason, food and nutrition-related Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) is one of the key factors to achieving household food and nutritional security. The main objective of this study is to assess the food and nutrition-related KAP among reproductive-age women and understanding of household food and nutritional security in Sri Lanka as an example for marginalized societies. Thus, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using the KAP model questionnaire administered on 400 reproductive age women (18–49 Years) in marginalized areas in Sri Lanka. Data were collected using a random sampling method. The research results clearly showed that the reproductive age women have a low level of nutritional knowledge in the areas being investigated. Most women have a positive attitude towards receiving nutritional knowledge but have low-level practice about a healthy diet. Furthermore, knowledge, practices, and attitudes of women largely affect their BMI status, as well as household food security. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the influential factors. There was a highly significant positive correlation between nutritional knowledge, attitude score, and BMI level and a significant difference was found in the area, age, family size, monthly income, educational level, attitudes towards nutrition, food and nutrition practices across the reproductive women (R2: 467, p < 0.01). The research results showed that KAP largely determines women’s nutrition and household food security. Based on the results of this research, there is a need to enhance nutritional education in reproductive-age women in marginalized areas in Sri Lanka.

Discerning risk and uncertainty with “better insurance” – How animal health interventions for village chickens influence farmers’ perceptions on the prevention of poultry diseases

Food security is a global challenge and threatens mainly smallholder farmers in developing countries. The main aim of this paper is to determine factors that are associated with food security in Zambia. This study utilizes the household questionnaire survey dataset of 400 smallholder farmers in four districts conducted in southern Zambia in 2016. To measure food security, the study employs two food security indicators, namely the food consumption score (FCS) and the household hunger scale (HHS). Two ordered probit models are estimated with the dependent variables FCS and HHS. Both the FCS and HHS models’ findings reveal that higher education levels of household head, increasing livestock income, secure land tenure, increasing land size, and group membership increase the probability of household food and nutrition security. The results imply that policies supporting livestock development programs such as training of farmers in animal husbandry, as well as policies increasing land tenure security and empowerment of farmers groups, have the potential to enhance household food and nutrition security.

Summary Food and nutritional (in)security remain an important matter of concern, especially in developing countries. Despite the efforts to enhance food security among smallholder soybean households, the proportion of the undernourished population in Butere Sub-County still remains high for unknown reasons. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of food security among smallholder soybean households in Butere Sub-County, Kenya. The study adopted the exploratory research design. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 201 respondents. Cross-sectional data were gathered through face-to-face interviews using pretested semi-structured questionnaires and analyzed using ordered logistic regression model. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale was used to measure and categorize the soybean household food (in)security status. The results revealed that the household food (in)security status differed across soybean households and was greatly influenced by an interplay of socio-economic, market, and institutional factors. Age of the household head negatively influenced food security, whereas the level of soybean commercialization, education, livestock units, network density, extension visits, and credit access were positively associated with household food security. The study recommends policy interventions that seek to ensure intensive literacy development, frequent extension and training, improved access to credit, and reinvestment in productive assets or inputs for increased production, commercialization and food security. Strengthening of social ties and increased allocation to safety net programs for the aged, vulnerable, and resource-poor households are also recommended.

Small-scale goat farming can significantly contribute to livelihoods, particularly in semi-arid areas where rainfall is erratic and crop farming is too risky. The study investigated the gendered-differentiated contribution of goat farming to household food income and food security in the semi-arid area of Msinga in South Africa using focus group discussions, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey of 241 households. Using the Household Food Insecurity and Access Scale to measure the household food security of goat farming households, descriptive statistics and the Chi-square statistics, results showed a significant relationship between food security and the household socio-economic parameters such as the education level of the household head (p &amp;lt; 0.05), the gender of the household head (p &amp;lt; 0.05) and the total household income (p &amp;lt; 0.01). The Tobit regression model showed that the main factors determining food security at the household level were education levels, gender and the total household income. Female-headed households were less food secure than male-headed households because they did not have reliable employment to provide adequate and nutritious food for their households. Therefore, empowering women is crucial to ensuring food security because unstable employment opportunities lead to households&amp;rsquo; failure to cope with food insecurity adequately. Goat farming did not contribute to household food security because it generated little income as goat sales were generally low, with a mean of 2.1 for male headed-households and 1.0 for female headed-households in 12 months (p &amp;lt; 0.05). Farmers obtained little income from goat farming because goat flock sizes for most households did not increase due to poor nutrition, diseases, predation, and theft. With the household food basket cost reported to be ZAR3 400/US$188, a household would need to sell up to four goats each month to survive solely on goat farming. However, where goat flock size was small, households limited goat sales to maintain the potential to increase their flock size. Empowering women by promoting rural education may increase their chances of being exposed to better management options, acquiring a better understanding of goat management practices, and making informed decisions, thereby contributing to the improvement of food security. Enhancing goat production is essential to increase flock sizes, as this enables farmers to make more sales, thereby improving food security. Therefore, extension workers need to help farmers better manage and utilize goat farming to their full potential. Finally, rural households need to reduce their autonomy and dependency on supermarket goods and become more agri-oriented.

This study analyzed the food and nutrition security of selected urban and rural households in Pili, Camarines Sur, Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. It determined the prevalence of food insecurity among the selected urban and rural households, analyzed the determinants of food insecurity in these households, determined the prevalence of malnutrition, and assessed the relationship between the households’ food security and nutrition security. Primary data from a survey of 185 urban and rural households and secondary data from the Electronic Operation Timbang Plus (e-OPT) Tool were used to determine the prevalence of food insecurity using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and nutrition insecurity between urban and rural households, respectively. Results revealed that, during the pandemic, there were more (89.1%) food-insecure households most of which were from urban areas (88.3%). The ordered logistic regression analysis also showed that food insecurity in urban households was determined by the age of the household head, household monthly income, household size, and access to credit, while food insecurity in rural households was determined by education, monthly income, household daily food expenditure, and land ownership. Stunting and wasting among children under the age of five were more evident in urban households; however, rural households had a higher prevalence of stunted and wasted children aged 6 – 12 yr. The Fisher’s Exact Test results showed that the food security status and nutrition security level of children aged 0 – 5 yr and school-aged children were unrelated. Targeted courses of action are recommended to address area-specific nutrition problems.

The adoption of hybrid chicken production as a source of income and food security among smallholder farmers has recently taken significant global attention. However, the effect of adoption of hybrid chicken across different genders on household food expenditure and food security remains unknown. This study employed propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR) models to analyze the effect of adoption of hybrid chicken on smallholder households' consumption expenditure and food security in Machakos County. The PSM and ESR models were estimated on a sample of 582 households selected using multistage stratified random sampling method. The descriptive results indicated that adopters of hybrid chicken spent on average KES 1296 compared to the non-adopters who spent KES 1400 on food consumption per month. Furthermore, the adopters of hybrid chicken were more food secure compared to the non-adopters. About 74% of female were also likely to experience chronic food insecurity compared to their male counterparts. The econometric results indicated that farm location, access to credit, access to market, access to feeds, group membership and cost of feeds significantly influenced the adoption of the hybrid chicken production for both male and female decision makers. The average treatment effect results showed that non-adopters spent higher costs on food consumption. Moreover, half of the adopters of hybrid chicken were food secure compared to the non-adopters. The treatment effects of adopting hybrid chicken on household food consumption and food security were positive suggesting that adopters benefited more compared to the non-adopters. To boost food security, this study recommends the National and County governments to develop a facilitating policy environment which supports chicken production systems that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable while enhancing appropriate technical and extension support to enable cost effective chicken production, marketing, and disease control.

The survey was conducted to examine poultry production and determine causes of poultry losses in a communal area of Zimbabwe. Qualitative data were obtained using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques, while quantitative data were captured through a structured questionnaire administered to 416 households. The majority (68%) of the farmers in the study kept indigenous chickens and the remainder had exotic broilers and layers. Ownership of poultry was similar among men and women. In terms of management, indigenous chickens survived mainly through scavenging with minimal or no supplementary feeding provided. Health management was also poor, with minimal use of veterinary therapeutic intervention in the event of disease outbreak. The major causes of losses were disease, predators and external parasites, as well as thieves. The occurrence of disease and predator problems was seasonal, the former being high during the hot season. Reasons given for high mortality during the hot season were improper housing and the heat. In addition, mortality was highest in young chicks, particularly during the first three weeks after hatching. The major disease problems were Newcastle disease (ND) and coccidiosis, while the main predators identified included dogs, baboons, and several nocturnal feral cats. In conclusion, the major findings of this study were that there is an abundance of indigenous chickens and farmers attach great importance to them in their daily lives but take very little care of them. However, the farmers are aware of the potential benefits that can accrue from improving productivity of poultry. Given the opportunity, farmers would like to improve poultry housing and care of chicks, improve on disease prevention and control, particularly ND. IN ZIMBABWE, village chickens are estimated to number between 15 and 30 million. This estimate is based on about one million communal farmers, each keeping an average of 20 birds. Village chicken production has withstood the test of time and is often described as a low input-low output production system. This makes it a very sustainable system for the resource poor communal area farmers. Because of this attitude, very little attention has been paid to this industry in terms of research and development, resulting in the lack of information on the status of poultry production in the communal areas. This lack of attention has led to many constraints in terms of improving productivity of village chickens, not only in Zimbabwe, but also in other African and developing countries. On the other hand, commercial production of the different classes of poultry has increased over the years and is poised to grow in Zimbabwe. This is a direct response to the increased demand for poultry meat as a substitute to beef in the general consumer’s diet due to the ever escalating and inflated prices of beef. In addition, village chickens are important for various social and traditional rituals and will always be part of the farming systems in the communal areas of Zimbabwe (Scoones 1992). Village chickens play a very important role in the livelihoods of those people keeping them. These chickens have a multitude of functions, and these include the many cultural and traditional roles, food and income generation (Scoones 1992; Kusina and Kusina 1999). Despite their importance, productivity has been hampered by many constraints, resulting in low average flock sizes (15–20 birds) (Muchenje and Sibanda 1997; Kusina and Kusina 1999). At present, there exists a paucity of information on management 1 Department of Animal Science, University of Zimbabwe, PO Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe 2 Henderson Research Station, PO Box 2004, Mazowe, Zimbabwe

Assessment of production and productivity of village chicken were conducted in two agro-ecology (midland, highland) and eight rural kebeles (RKs), in Chelliya district. A total of 120 households were participated in the survey. The study revealed that the primary aim of chicken rearing is for sale of live chicken (31.81%) followed by for incubation (30.7%). the overall village chicken flock size was 3.81±0.18 per household. The major supplement feed for chicken was wheat grain (59.2 %) followed by food leftover (25.8%). About 70.8% of the respondents give more supplements to layers followed by chicks (10.8%). Hens/layers got the priority highest attention because farmers believe that supplemented hens lay more eggs. About 53.3% of the households shared the same room followed by a separately constructed houses (33.3%) and separate quarter in the same roof for family (13.3%). The Parameters used for selecting breeding village chicken were plumage colors (30%), body weight (27.5%), comp type (23.3%), breed type (12.5%), and comp shape (6.7%), in that order. The major diseases reported in the study area was Newcastle disease (85 %) and 15% other diseases including Coccidosis, Fowl pox and Fowl typhoid. generally exotic breeds seems to perform better than indigenous and there is a need for improvement in production practices and productivity of the cross breeds and indigenous breeds. K ey w o r d s: Village chicken, Productivity, Marketing, Household, Ethiopia