Week Two Work:

Single versus multiple (integrated) interventions for sustainable
development of family poultry. 

The traditional family poultry production system that has endured for
centuries will continue for the next century without any intervention as
long as our rural environment and people persist. However output and
impact on family income and nutrition will also remain at current level.


If however we need some evolution of family poultry production with the
aim of improving family income and nutrition, or we can imagine a future
where the rural environment and rural human population dwindle, then
interventions are required. In this regards an integrated approach will
be essential.

In previous contributions, mention has been made of questions of access
to land. Climate change may also constraint the productivity of
available land and its ability to sustain scavenging domesticated birds
even though these may be the last to suffer.  It is pertinent therefore
that we should consider interventions that will ensure the survival of
this production system as well as enhance its profile so as to actively
encourage new entrants to take it up as a means of improving their
livelihood.

I would like to suggest two bold interventions or organisational models
that will have universal appeal and application. This is based on my
earlier suggestion that what we need at this stage are efforts or
studies on identifying and setting up infrastructure and institutions to
support small scale low input family poultry production in parallel with
large scale commercial poultry production. 

 

Organisational models for improvement of Family poultry production

1. Family Poultry resource centre(s)

A resource centre to facilitate daily collection of eggs from each
village in a regions to be hatched centrally and brooded centrally. What
I envisage is a centre with personnel who will be able to go out every
day to producers in their region, to collect eggs and bring these back
to the station/centre.  The centre should be equipped with an incubator
of sufficient capacity to allow weekly setting of eggs for hatching.
This will solve the problem of source of day old chicks for anyone
looking to start up. The centre should also have a shed for rearing of
day old chicks until at least 6-8 weeks which would reduce chick loss
due to predation and accidents due to exposure of young chicks to the
elements.  It should be open to allow the purchase of any quantity of
chicks at any age by individual producers at replacements or for
finishing for the market. Anything not purchased can be reared  as usual
with FP and taken to the market to be sold  whole or processed an sold
as meat on site so that it also serves as a regular source of processed
poultry meat for people living around there. Meat can thus be sold on as
require basis once price per KG is fixed.

The resource centre/institution can also be a centre of knowledge and
excellence on poultry production and family poultry production in
particular. They can then offer advise as well as maintain a sales
outlet 'within site or down town' for the sale of  inputs such as
supplemental feed and drugs as well as the processed meat. 

The personnel involved in collection of eggs may also be equipped with
knowledge to serve as advisers facilitated to take products from the
centre's sale outlet to the producers. This will depend on their mode of
transport and will vary from place to place (i.e. van, motor bike, or
bicycles). The key being that everything should be sold in quantities
that will allow each producer to buy only as much as they need or can
afford on the day.

These same rural poultry workers (a concept that is already being
considered in Nigeria for example -Sonaiya personal communication) could
be trained to vaccinate  or provide required medical interventions when
requested or on routine.  This idea can be expanded and modified to make
feasible according to prevailing local conditions

2. Family poultry product marketing board

An organised marketing structure will be a panacea for the uptake and
commercialisation of family poultry production. Often times, it has been
suggested that one of the reason why people keep chickens is as a store
of wealth to be cashed on a 'rainy' day. I dare say that cash is now
widely used and easily stored these days and every rural dweller would
rather have cash saved than a living birds that can succumb to disease
and die.  To this end, I believe that producers would be glad to mains a
reasonable population of breeding hens and produce chicks or eggs that
they can sell to the resource centre above or rear chicks to market
weight for sale on a regular basis to be able to earn some income.

What I therefore propose is a centralised marketing structure or
institution that will facilitate a ready market for poultry birds or
poultry products from family producers.  A kind of  Family Poultry
Marketing Board.  Their main role will be the commercialisation of
family production by 

1.	Providing a ready market at standardised price for the products
2.	Helping to create and develop niche markets for family poultry
products
3.	Help in processing, product developments and marketing
4.	Actively promote family poultry  products to local and
international markets.

Such an organisation will have the muscle and capacity to regulate and
ensure quality control of family poultry meat such that they can then be
promoted at local and international markets  as wholesome specialised
meat products. As daunting as this may seem, I would crave your
indulgence to find out about PDOs (protected designation of origin), PGI
(protected geographical indication) and TSG (traditional speciality
guaranteed) schemes from the European Union from this link 

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/quality/schemes/index_en.htm   

These EU schemes encourage diverse agricultural production and help
protect niche products developed in local regions.  Quality regulation
and product promotion allow these niche products produced only in
specific localities to be marketed world wide.  I believe poultry meat
products from family production system based on specific indigenous
breeds can be developed to fit a similar niche market. It will however
require an organised marketing or commercialisation structure or
institution to achieve both the development and promotion of such a
product.

I am convinced that these two organisational structures can enhance the
profile of sustainable family poultry production which maintains
diversity in the indigenous poultry populations while enhancing the
income and nutrition of resource poor family producers.  This is my
personal opinion.

 

 

Dr. Victor E. Olori

----------------------------

 

 



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