A systematic and planned technology development of rural poultry production into
small commercial units holds a tremendous potential for growth in rural areas,
especially owing to consumer preference for indigenous chicken, egg and meat.
Though poultry development in Nigeria has taken a quantum leap in the last two
decades, the growth has been mainly restricted to commercial poultry. Rural poultry
production can generate income in increasing levels, employment opportunities to
small holders and can also bring about desired socio-economic changes in rural areas
which are vital for rural development and rural prosperity. Hence, there is the need to
strengthen rural women’s capacity for increased technology development in poultry
production for increase production and profitability
2. Alabi, O.O., Ajala, A.O., Olawoye, S.O and Animashahun R.A.
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1. INTRODUCTION
The supply of animal protein is very important as the population increases every day in the
developing countries. Poultry is one of the major sources of animal protein and is generally
accepted worldwide. Poultry production is the fastest growing component of global meat
production. Poultry are considered as a productive asset for the household and has important
contribution to food security for the household. This is because, poultry mainly provides meat
and eggs which increase households’ consumption of animal sourced food. Moreover, the
contribution of poultry to food security can be related with income from sales of poultry and
poultry products, which are often used for purchase of addition food items necessary for the
household from the market. Other reasons for sales of poultry are to decrease flock size,
sacrifices for festivals and disposal of less productive birds. Chicken is the most popular type
of poultry reared for egg and meat (Ogunlade and Adebayo, 2009). Village chicken
production is extensive and dominated by indigenous chickens that exhibit remarkable
adaptation to local environment; farmers preferred the local breeds over other breeds and
these indigenous chickens are prevalent in the rural areas because it is central to the livelihood
of rural populace and they represent valuable resources for livestock development because of
their extensive genetic diversity which allowed for rearing of poultry under varied
environmental conditions. Smallholder poultry production is practiced by most rural
households throughout the developing world. Productivity of village chicken is low and is
hampered by problems of feed shortage, low chick survival rate, transportation, weather
change, poor extension services, high prevalence of poultry diseases, inadequate supply of
vaccines and medicines and lack of good housing management (Garba et al., 2013; Billah et
al., 2013).
2. CHALLENGES OF RURAL POULTRY PRODUCTION
2.1. Food Supply and Housing Challenge
Most producers have the mentality that the birds should look after themselves especially by
scavenging for food freely on range throughout the day after provision of few grains in the
morning because of high cost of poultry feed and thereafter at night sleeping on tree branches
or on top of house (Sharaunga et al., 2014). Food supply in most rural areas consist mainly of
starch grains which supply energy requirement for life but inadequate in necessary protein for
growth and good health of the birds. Insufficient protein intake in poultry results in lowered
body weight. In the early stage of birds, there is reduced appetite, lowered feed intake,
reduced nitrogen retention, poor feed efficiency, inferior growth rate, lack of muscle
development and prolonged time to reach maturity (Pauwel et al., 2015). Inappropriate
feeding regime and poor management all constitutes negative impact on production, knowing
that increase in egg and meat production can be achieved through adequate and balance
nutrition. Increased production is predicted to lead to more access to meat and eggs in rural
communities, which will result in increased household animal protein consumption ((Sonaiya,
2016; Dessie, 2017).Village chicken producers do not realize the value of village chicken,
their worth and how much they could contribute to their livelihoods if well managed as a
business enterprise. Human population is growing and creating a significant and increasing
demand for additional animal protein foods, this call for rural chicken producers to put value
in their production by shifting from family production to business production, hence, the
challenge of growing chickens efficiently in resource-poor communities and maintaining a
high body weight at market age.
3. Strengthening Rural Women’s Capacity for Technology Development in Poultry Production in Nigeria
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2.2. Health Challenge
High incidence of disease is one of the major constraints to smallholder poultry production
systems in Nigeria. In order to control various poultry diseases, traditional medicine is widely
practiced by rural resource-poor poultry farmers. The reliance of traditional medicine by rural
poultry farmers is due mainly to problems like inadequate supply of orthodox drugs, lack of
finance, exorbitant cost, poor storage facilities and unavailability of consultancy advice from
veterinary officers in remote villages (Ekemezie and Fasanmi, 2007). The traditional way of
rearing livestock originally uses less of synthetic drugs, although the birds raised are hardy in
nature. Birds are almost never vaccinated. The rural small poultry farmers have developed
indigenous methods or technologies for coping with the health related problems through
indigenous knowledge. The practical applications of indigenous medicinal herbs/plant
extracts are being explored for improving poultry health as well as production with fruitful
results (Kuldeep Dhama et al., 2015).
2.3. Improved Breed Challenge
In order to address the factors militating against high chicken production and productivity at
the smallholder level, research efforts in the area of genetics and breeding amongst others
have been made in the past three decades (Sonaiya, 2016). One of such is the development of
chicken genotypes that are adapted to the prevailing tropical conditions. However, an
intervention of African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) is to provide improved breeds of
chickens to rural women. ACGG is a project working with diverse stakeholders including
universities, national research institutes and the private sector to increase smallholder chicken
production and productivity growth as a pathway out of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The
intervention of ACGG is to transform smallholder chicken production into commercially
viable enterprise (Carletto et al., 2017) with active private sector engagement that empowers
rural women, increases income and nutrition of their family through delivery of more
productive locally adaptable chicken, production inputs and services to rural communities
2.4. Challenge of Low Level of Education
When family resource becomes scarce, education for girl child in the rural communities may
be seen as luxury. When the household income declines, girls are more likely to be withdrawn
from school and take on more menial work responsibilities to get money. Due to lack of
education, it becomes difficult for women to access credit facilities and other agencies that are
relevant to entrepreneurship development
2.5. Challenge of High Maternal Mortality
One of the problems confronting developing and underdeveloped countries globally is high
maternal mortality, poverty is one of the major factors influencing maternal mortality this
compounded by the economic down turn which has manifested in high food prices, low
medical care, communal clash and poor sanitation; resulting in many more being pushed
along the poverty line with women being the most hit (Rammohan et al., 2012)
3. WAY FORWARD FOR STRENGTHENING RURAL WOMEN’S
CAPACITY
3.1. Development of feed formulation application
Most of the village chicken producers are not buoyant enough to buy commercial feed that
will meet the nutrient requirement of each class of birds, so available local alternative feed
ingredient such as kitchen remnant, waste of soybean cake, waste from maize, sorghum, dry
fish, cray fish, vegetables etc. can be used to compound balance feed for chickens. The
4. Alabi, O.O., Ajala, A.O., Olawoye, S.O and Animashahun R.A.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 693 editor@iaeme.com
development of feed formulation application can be developed for increase production and
this will alleviate the challenge of food supply.
3.2. Adoption of Modern Housing Technologies
Birds that are reared under a controlled environment are monitored properly and perform
better. A good housing should be provided for village chickens for increased productivity.
3.3. Community Health Workers (CHW)
Community health workers should be trained by veterinary doctors for improved health care
delivery services for the small holder chicken sector (Chang et al., 2018). The community
health workers help to bridge the gap of unavailability of consultancy advice from veterinary
officers in remote villages, with the presence of CHW there will access to adequate animal
health services which will help to provide wholesome and safe poultry products.
3.4. Formulation and registration of cooperative society
Most of the women in rural areas that are involved in poultry production should be
encouraged to form cooperative society for the benefits of working together as a recognized
body and such cooperative should be registered by the government.
3.5. Training to enhance capacity
Training will strengthens women’s capacity to perform effectively and will be better equipped
to tackle the challenges of poultry production, training of smallholders’ chicken producers is
very important, especially with the adoption of modern agricultural techniques that are
tailored to local conditions and the use of natural resources in a sustainable manner, with a
view to achieving economic development without degrading the environment. Gender issues
should be adequately addressed particularly decision making on the chicken production
(Bullough et al., 2015)
4. CONCLUSIONS
Technological development of rural poultry production will enhance production that will
result in improved production, increased income, better nutrition and availability of animal
protein in sufficient quantity and quality.
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