A Survey on Village Chicken Losses: Causes and Solutions as Perceived by Farmers

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