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
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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