Assessment of Smallholder Chicken Production Practices, Marketing and Constraints in Two Districts of South-Omo Zone, Ethiopia

Research Article

Ann Agric Crop Sci. 2023; 8(2): 1133.

Assessment of Smallholder Chicken Production Practices, Marketing and Constraints in Two Districts of South-Omo Zone, Ethiopia

Elias Gonta¹*; Meseret Girma²; Mengistu Urge²

¹Poultry Researcher, Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Ethiopia

²Department of Animal and Range Science, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

*Corresponding author: Elias Gonta Poultry Researcher, Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), P.O. Box 06, Hawassa, Ethiopia. Email: eliasgonta@gnmail.com

Received: March 24, 2023 Accepted: May 06, 2023 Published: May 13, 2023

Abstract

Objectives: The study was conducted to assess the production practices, marketing and constraints smallholder chicken producers in two districts of South Omo zone.

Materials and Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to select districts, Kebeles and households. Based on this a total of 180 households (2x3x30) were selected to collect information focusing on village chicken production practices, marketing and constraints.

Results: The most dominating form of production practice was seasonal supplementation for local and mixed breeds, whereas, regular supplementation for exotic breeds. The feed supplementation trend, attitude toward chicken vaccination and medication, shelter provision, management responsibility, chicken and egg selling responsibility and extension approach of the farmer’s changes as the farmers start rearing more productive breeds. Poor productivity, diseases, and old age were the main factors in all strata that determine chickens to be culled except lack of mothering ability for local breeds. There was no formal market channel, the process of transporting chicken and egg was manual, price of items depend on the number of merchants, there was price argumentation between producers and merchants, predict or seasonal outbreak of disease, weak extension access that focused only dissemination of exotic breeds, dissemination of breeds were not based on the scientific research output, no regular follow up and monitoring, and production hindering constraints.

Conclusion: Finally, due to weak extension services and other hindering constraints, farmers participated in poultry sector were losing a number of chickens by disease and predators. Therefore, there should be a planned vaccination schedule, scientific and chicken health trial research on local used medicaments, the ways of chicken and egg transporting and marketing should be improved and given equal attention should be to poultry sector with other agricultural sectors at lower levels.

Keywords: Breeds; Rearing; Scavenging; Smallholder; Strata

Abbreviations: DA: Development Agent; JARC: Jinka Agricultural Research Center; LS: Level of significance; Na: Not Available; Ns: Not Significant; SARI: Southern Agricultural Research Center; SNNPR: South Nation Nationalities and Peoples Region

Introduction

Poultry production has a minimum impact on climatic change and maintains soil fertility through poultry house litter compared with other livestock production [1]. The most dominant chicken production system in Seka Chekorsa and Kersa Districts of Jimma Zone was the traditional (49.4%), where chickens totally maintain by scavenging, the second production practice was seasonal/conditional supplementation in addition to scavenging (33.2%), where farmers provide feed during crop harvesting and feed availability and the third was semi-scavenging production systems or regular provision feed at least once per day [2].

In Ethiopia, chicken production is mainly known by less attention for the production, by which there is little or no supplementation, no separate shelters except night shelter, low veterinary services, low level of bio-security, higher exposure to predators, devastation of flock by disease and predators and high levels of mortality [3]. Similarly, Smallholder chicken production is characterized by provision of poor quality feeds such as cereal grains, combination of local and improved breeds in one flock, weak veterinary services, local labor and traditional housing systems [4].

The market price of chicken was highly related to feather color, comb type, body weight, sex, health status of chicken and site of market [5]. Similarly, there was no formal poultry and poultry product marketing channel [6]. Diseases, feed shortage and predators (60.13, 20.59, and 19.8%), respectively, were economically important hindering factors of chicken production in North Wollo zone [7]. Similarly, disease and predators were the first and second chicken production constraints in Western Tigray [8].

Assessing the chicken production practices, marketing, extension access and constraints is very important to boost the productivity of the sector, put right kind of decision for the future improvement and provide research based information to policy designers regarding the sector. But, in the case of Debub-Ari and Bena-Tsemay districts there was no scientific research conducted regarding the chicken production practices, marketing, extension access and future and existing constraints. So, doing this research may put standard evidence for chicken producers as well as policy designers. Therefore, this study was targeted with the general aim of assessing smallholder chicken production practices, marketing, extension access and constraints of chicken in Debub-Ari and Bena-Tsemay districts of south-omo zone, Ethiopia.

Materials and Method

Ethical Statement

Ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the Jinka Agricultural Research Center (No. JARC-213-02-07-00-010/2020). All ethical issues were considered during individual household interviewing and mutual consent was made between interviewer and interviewers.

Description of the Study Area

The study was conducted in the Debub-Ari and Bena-Tsemay districts of the South Omo Zone, South Nation Nationalities, and Peoples Regional State of Ethiopia. The Debub-Ari district is found in the southwest part of the South Nation Nationalities and Peoples regional (SNNPR) state. It is located 774 km southwest of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and 529 km southwest of Hawassa, the capital of the regional state. The Debub-Ari district covers an area of 1,520 km2 with a relative human population of 219,708. The district lies between 5°67'–6°19'N latitude and 36°30'–36°73'E longitude, with a respective elevation of 500–3,500 meters above sea level. The average annual rainfall ranges from 400 to 1,600mm, and the average temperature ranges from 10.1°C to 27.5°C. The major crops of the district are maize, sorghum, teff, wheat, barley, sunflower, pigeon pea, root crops, fruits, vegetables, and coffee. The dominant livestock types in the district are cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, horses, and chickens [9].

The Bena-Tsemay district is found in the southwest part of the SNNPR state. It is located 713 km southwest of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and 468 km southwest of Hawassa, the capital of the regional state. Bena-Tsemay covers an area of 2,922.8 km2 with a relative human population of 61,061. The district lies between 5°01'–5°73'N latitude and 36°38'–37°07'E longitude, with a respective elevation of 500–2,500 meters above sea level. The average annual rainfall of the district ranges from 400 to 1,600mm, and the average temperature ranges from 10.1°C to 27.5°C. The major crops grown in the district are maize, sorghum, teff, fruits, sunflower, pigeon pea, and vegetables. The dominant livestock types in the district are cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, horses, and chickens [9].

Sample Size and Selection of Households

Purposive sampling method was used to select Kebeles from the study districts based on Kebeles potential for chicken production. Three kebeles were selected purposively from each districts, and from each kebeles 30 households who have better chicken producing practices were selected purposively and then stratified based on the breeds of chicken the farmers rear (local, exotic, and mixed breed (local, exotic and hybrid at one farm). Therefore, a total of 180 (2x3x30) households were selected to collect information focusing on chicken production practices, chicken and chicken product marketing, extension access and constraints of chicken production from the members of households responsible for chicken management.

Data Collection

Before the actual data collection, structured questionnaire was prepared and pre-tested taking few households with the kebele Developmental agents (DA) and farmers were briefed about the objective of the study. The interview was conducted at the farmers’ residences with the assistance of kebele extension officers. Data like chicken production system, chicken management responsibility among households, management practices such as housing, water provision, disease and medication practices, culling, extension services, chicken and egg marketing, and constraints of chicken production were collected during the personal interview.

Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard error, frequency and percentage of the collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2007). The chi-square test was determined for each data expressed as percentage and frequency.

Model for survey

Yijk = μ + xi + yj + ?ijk, where:

Yijk = The value of the respective variable

μ = Overall mean of the respective variable

Xi = The effect of ith District (i=1- 2 districts)

Yj = The effect of jth farmer on respective variables mentioned

ijk = Random error term

Results and Discussion

Chicken Production practice

The number of respondents that keep entirely on scavenging were highest (P<0.01) in local breed rearing strata (Table 1), which could be attributed due to farmer’s weak perception toward local breed feed supplementation. In this system chickens search for feed around the garden starting from early morning to searching for night shelter and the chicken owners don’t provide any feed rather than feed left-over during feed harvesting/pounding. The numbers of respondents that rear chickens on scavenging, plus seasonally/conditional supplementing were highest and similar in local and mixed breed rearing strata since both of them possess the local ecotypes which are threatened by owners perception due to their less production. The conditions that enable the owners to provide supplementary feed include feed harvesting time, availability of money and presence of chicks or laying exotic breeds. Similarly, Dana et al. [3] reported that, there is no planned feed supplementation and searching round the family dwelling is almost the only source of diet.