A Program to Improve Family Poultry Production in Africa

The Joint FAO/IAEA Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency has initiated a coordinated research program (CRP) to improve family poultry production in Africa. The program assists 12 scientists working in National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) during a period of five years with research in the subject. Regular research coordination meetings bring together all participants involved in the program to exchange results and experiences and to adjust work plans and protocols. Initially, a standardised survey was used to assess the characteristics of family poultry production in 24 different farms in two ecological zones in each country during the wet and dry seasons. Analysis of the survey will clarify the major constraints affecting family poultry production. Interventions will be initiated ranging from vaccination and other disease preventive measures to supplementary feeding, simple housing structures and improving marketing opportunities. The Joint FAO/IAEA Division has a successful history in managing and organising similar programs: in the distribution of the necessary equipment, kits and reagents; in the use of serological monitoring for epidemiological and disease control activities; and in the wider dissemination of results from such field studies in the form of guidelines and manuals. WITH the exception of urban areas in northern and southern Africa, most poultry production in Africa is undertaken through an extensive system at village or family level. Almost every village household keeps domestic fowl (on average between 5 and 20 birds) and it is estimated that village fowl make up more than 80% of the total fowl population in Africa estimated at 1068 million in 1995 (Guèye 1998). Under these circumstances, poultry provides a good source of protein and ready cash for villagers, which in turn helps to sustain the village economy and contributes to the prevention of urban migration. The benefits from family poultry production go directly to the rural poor, in most cases to the women who are the principal caretakers. Constraints to Increasing Family Poultry Production Family poultry production suffers from the constraints of disease, particularly Newcastle disease, insufficient feeding and lack of housing. Together, these factors result in a low level of productivity for this traditional system. If these constraints could be removed, productivity would increase, to the direct benefit of the marginal farmer. The immediate objective of a five-year research project is to develop strategies to overcome production constraints through a coordinated research program (CRP) involving 12 African investigators in collaboration with the Joint FAO/IAEA Division and with assistance from international experts in the subject. In order to increase production, the importance of each factor needs to be investigated in the different countries in a coordinated fashion and, subsequently addressed by designing a package of disease prevention, improved housing and strategic supplementary feeding protocols. This goal can best be achieved through a close collaboration of international organisations, universities with an expertise in poultry management, and the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in Africa.