African Chicken Genetic Gains
Tadelle Dessie
A platform for testing, delivering, and continuously improving
tropically-adapted chickens for productivity growth in sub-
Saharan Africa
Nigeria ACGG Project launch meeting
IITA, Ibadan , Nigeria
22 July 2015

Vision
The vision of this program is to catalyze public-private
partnerships for increasing smallholder chicken
production and productivity growth as a pathway out of
poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
Our Vision

Overview of ACGG Objectives:
• Develop and nurture Innovation Platform at different levels to facilitate private
sector engagement and business model development focused on empowering poor
smallholder farmers especially women in the chicken value chain to improve their
livelihoods
• Identify, characterize, and test tropically-adapted chicken germplasm to determine
productivity across agro-ecologies and management conditions and to define farmer
preferences.
• Establish stable multiplication lines of farmer-preferred germplasm and develop IP
models to facilitate private and public sector access to the germplasms through a
long-term genetic gains program focused on continual improvement

Some facts about the ACGG program
Project countries:
Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia
Funding: BMGF and in-kind contribution from partners
Program period:
5 years (2014 to 2019)
Starting date:
January, 2014)
End date:
December, 2019

What are we doing differently?
ACGG Five Pillars of Change
1. High-producing genetics that is well-adapted to low-
input production systems;
2. Farmer preferred breeds of chickens;
3. Public-private partnership for improvement,
multiplication, and delivery;
4. Women at the center to ensure success; and
5. Innovation platforms for developing solutions across the
value chain.

What must be different?
1. From “silver bullets” to  researched options (informed
by farmer experimentation)
2. From “we are here to offer you solutions” to “we are here
to work with you to find solutions”
3. From pure focus on pushing ‘promising strains’
to recognition of importance of O x C
4. Innovation Platforms at national and community level as on-
going processes for industry integration which outlive
the current Project!

Why (only) Genetics?
As seen in the developed world, huge gains can be unlocked
through genetics
Fully benefiting from breed improvement requires a systems approach, a
context-specific strategy, understanding of the socio-economic landscape,
and consideration of the existing resources.
Be a catalyst and pull factor for improving the wider system –triggering input
supply and better marketing in a developing chicken value chain
Unlike many other types of intervention, benefits can span generations.
however…
and…
Therefore, we
believe
genetics can…
This sustainable genetic
improvement program can be
the primary driver for change
–GET the Genetics right and it
will serve as a systemic pull
factor

Chicken’s high rate of reproduction enables rapid
scale - distribution could begin after 18 months
6 12Phase 2 Months
18 24 30
Size of multiplier
flock 100* 1,970 38,800 765,000 Millions100
Number of smallholders
benefited 7,300 145,000 millions More millions
No chick distribution Limited distribution (5-10%) Full dissemination
This model can be implemented simultaneously in multiple geographies.

Partnership - Integrated into ACGGs
core business
Support-Provide
support to
partners
Service-Serve the needs
of key partners (capacity
building, resource
mobilization, etc.)
Communication-
Move beyond
informing to
engagement
Partnership is
Key!

PartnershipPartnerships

ACGG partnerships for impacts:
The give and take
• Development investors
provide money, influence, advocacy
get better bang for their bucks, better-targeted impacts.
• Researchers – international and national
provide evidence, capacity building (act as catalysts and facilitators providing options to farmers to
make decisions based on scientific evidence)
get co-development of new science.
• Multinational agencies
provide policies, advocacy, means to scale up interventions
get evidence-based knowledge.
• Development partners
provide relevance, reality checks, expertise
get practical science for real development.
• Farmers (women):
provide resources, indigoes knowledge; co-create solutions to their challenges
get solutions to their challenges; Preferred yet productive chicken --continuously

ACGG management
What is
ILRI’s
Role in
ACGG?
ACGG team at ILRI provides leadership, technical
backstopping and capacity building. Responsible for
the donor (technical and financial), coordinate the
identification, sourcing and testing of productive yet
adaptive strains
Who are part
of the Country
team ?
ACGG country team MANAGES the
project implementation at country
level : Baseline survey, on-farm and
on-station testing, IP establishment
and development, PPP management
etc. Identifying and nurturing
partnership as appropriate, resource
mobilization, capacity building etc
What are
the roles
of the
countries
in ACGG?

Governance
Who is part of
the SIAC?
What is
the SIAC’s
Role in
ACGG?
ACGG is guided by a Scientific and Industry Advisory
Committee (SIAC) comprised of six leading professionals
in business, research, and development. These individuals
will be a key driver of ACGG’s goals of a high standard of
responsibility, culpability, and superior governance

Opportunities
Months ACGG Activity Opportunities for Engagement
August • Baseline Enumerator Training and Baseline
Launch
September • Identify facilities for hatching, brooding, and
on-station testing
• Hatching facilities
• Brooding facilities (mother units)
October • Farmer sensitization
• Community Innovation Platform Meetings
Launch
• Tailor-made training to farmers
• Contribute to the advancement of
chicken production at the
community level
November • Finalizing contracts for purchasing fertilized
eggs and documentation for importation
December • Logistics of strain importation • Importing into Nigeria Kuroiler,
Fayoumi or Sasso, and Koekoek (?)
• Locally sourcing FUNAAB Alpha,
Fulani, and ShikaBrown

Opportunities
Months ACGG Activity Opportunities for Engagement
January • Hatching, brooding, and on-station
testing of 4 strains
• Veterinary drug and vaccine supply
• Vaccination services of brooded birds with
Newcastle, IBDV, Infectious Bronchitis, and
Fowl Pox
February • 2nd Nigeria National Innovation
Platform
• Contribute to the co-creation of solutions
for the development of Nigeria’s chicken
value chain
March-July • On-farm testing • Brooding facilities in designated agro-
ecologies
• Distribution of birds to project farmers
• Multiplication, brooding, and distribution
of birds to meet demand

Partners

more productive chickens for Africa’s
smallholders
http://africacgg.net
The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

Ese!
Asante Sana!
Amesegnalhu!