Review on Poultry Production Status and Economic Contribution of the Sector in Ethiopia

Fikadu Wodajo Tirfie

doi:10.7176/fsqm/109-01

Abstract

This review focused on the poultry production status, breed/ecotype characterization, genetic improvement trends and economic value of the poultry sector in Ethiopia. The poultry production system in Ethiopia can be classified into four categories, large scale commercial, medium scale commercial, small scale commercial and village or backyard commercial production system. Chickens play an important role in the human economy, supplying food, creating wealth through job creation for the booming population. About 78.85% of the Ethiopian poultry population consists of indigenous chickens, while the remaining 21.14% consists of exotic and hybrid breeds of chickens. The indigenous chickens of Ethiopia have various names and characterized based on their ecological or main habitat, depend on qualitative characteristics. The molecular characterizations of some Ethiopian indigenous chicken ecotype were conducted. The improvements of the productivity of indigenous chicken ecotype are mainly focused on the introduction of high yielding exotic chickens. Exotic chickens were first introduced into Ethiopia in 1953. The genetic improvement through introduction of exotic breeds was failed due to less adapted to local environment conditions, poor management; lack of input and output markets; and shortage of quality feeds, vaccines and veterinary inputs. Chickens are the backbone economy base of poor resource households in Ethiopia. The economic contribution of the poultry production sector is not still proportional to the huge chicken numbers, due to the presence of many productions, reproduction and infrastructural constraints. To use full potential of poultry sector, it requires the development of proper poultry breeding program and strategy. Keywords: breed, chicken, economy, exotic, genetic improvement, indigenous chicken, phenotypic characterization DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/109-01 Publication date: June 30 th 2021

Highlights

In Ethiopia, the word poultry is synonymously used with the word chicken
Importance of poultry and poultry product Poultry plays an important role in the human economy, supplying food, creating wealth through job creation for the booming population
Chicken ecotype/breed characterization Breed characterization can be important to identify breeds at risk of extinction or which are highly desired by farmers, and is an important input into nation’s chicken development planning (Halima et al, 2007)

Summary

Introduction

In Ethiopia, the word poultry is synonymously used with the word chicken. The domestication of poultry (chicken) was mainly for the production of meat and eggs for sale in order to obtain income and domestic consumption all over the world. Poultry production system can be subdivided into four major distinct parts named small, medium and large scale based on the breed, flock size, housing, feeding, health and technology used. Based on the objective, breed, flock size, housing, feeding, health, Biosecurity level and technology used, the poultry production system in Ethiopia can be classified into four categories, large scale commercial, medium scale commercial, small scale commercial and village or backyard commercial production system (Wondmeneh et al, 2017, FAO, 2019). The production system in villages or backyards has kept few birds, specific poultry houses are rare, scavenging and occasional feeding with home grains and refuse, no regular health program with no biosecurity and no formal marketing channel Birds kept in this system are usually native, dual-use breeds that are adapted to the scavenging production environment. According to report of CSA (2021) Oromia, Amhara and South Nation and Nationality People of Ethiopia regions has about 33.62%, 33.44%, 16.91% and 12.28% of the total chicken population of the country, respectively

Dire Dawa

Chicken genetic improvement in Ethiopia

Conclusion and recommendation

Findings

Extension and