Scale, Skill and Sustainable Livelihoods – Participatory Approaches to Improving Poultry Production in Peri-Urban Communities

Abstract

Poverty and food insecurity are widespread in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for approximately one-quarter of the world's poor, has acute food insecurity in its central, eastern and southern regions. Poverty has multiple dimensions and is characterized by the inability of individuals, households or entire communities to access sufficient assets to sustain a socially acceptable standard of living. By improving their asset status, households can become more resilient to external shocks through increased options for livelihoods. This paper examines the scaling-up of traditional family poultry systems as a possible livelihood strategy to reduce poverty and food insecurity in peri-urban communities in South Africa. Participative action research methodologies revealed small-scale broiler enterprises as the preferred poultry system. Through business incubation, trainee entrepreneurs from the community demonstrated abilities to manage scaled-up broiler systems profitably over four successive cycles of production and marketing. Participation in the broiler enterprise enabled entrepreneurs to accumulate a range of assets that contributed to improving their income and food security status. Improvements in household food security were achieved directly through the increased availability of poultry meat and indirectly through increased cash incomes to acquire other foodstuffs. At the community level, localized benefits included the increased availability of fresh poultry meat and income effects derived from more competitive retail pricing. The paper concludes that further research is required to determine the viability of different scales of production that could be managed within the framework of local culture and access to resources.