This study describes existing chicken-keeping practices in Sanza ward, Manyoni District in Central Tanzania propose possible interventions to maximize the benefits obtained from village chickens.

1. An overview of village
chicken-keeping
practices
in Sanza ward in
Singida region and
proposed areas of
intervention
Elpidius Rukambile1, Wende Maulaga1,
Julia de Bruyn2, Brigitte Bagnol2,3,4,
Robyn Alders2,3 and Furaha Mramba1
1. Tanzanian Veterinary Laboratory Agency, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2. Faculty of Veterinary Science & Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Australia
3. International Rural Poultry Centre, Kyeema Foundation, Australia
4. Department of Anthropology, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Tanzania Veterinary Association
Conference
Arusha International Conference Centre
1-3 December, 2015

2.  85% of all households in sub-Saharan Africa keep poultry
 70% of poultry are owned by women
 Poultry products (eggs, meat and organs) are a potentially valuable
source of high-quality protein and bio-available micronutrients for
children in rural areas
 Chickens present an opportunity for household income
throughout the year, through the sale of birds and egg
 This study is intended to assess existing chicken-keeping practices
in Sanza ward and to propose possible interventions to maximize
the benefits obtained from village chickens
BACKGROUND

3. METHODOLOGY
 Baseline data from a five-year longitudinal study following
households with children under 24 months of age and an expressed
interest in chicken-keeping
 Sanza ward, Manyoni district – first of five project locations
 Sample size (240) based on stunting figures in children under 5
years (42% at a national level)
TANZANIA ZAMBIA
SINGIDA region DODOMA region LUSAKA province
MANYONI district
MPWAPWA
district
RUFUNSA district
SANZA ward MAJIRI ward IWONDO ward
BUNDA BUNDA
ward
SHIKABETA
ward
Table 1: Research locations

4. METHODOLOGY
 Pre-tested, structured questionnaires in Kiswahili
 Trained members of community collected data through interviews
 Local languages (Kigogo and Kisukuma) used where appropriate
 Household members over 16 years were eligible to respond
 Intended respondents’ gender were 50% male and 50% female
 Topics included:
 Ownership of chickens
 Reasons for not keeping chickens
 Feeding practices
 Chicken housing
 Use of poultry products
 Seasonal patterns in mortality, consumption and sale

5. RESULTS
Ownership
 51.7% of households were keeping chickens in May 2014
 Of households keeping chickens, 53.5% were reported as
male-headed and 38.5% as female-headed
 Average number of chickens per HH was 10.5
 Average number of adult chickens (more than 5 months) per
HH was 4.7
 Average number of growers (2 -5 months) per HH was 4.4
 Average number of chicks (day old to 2 months) per HH was 9

6. RESULTS
Ownership
Figure 1: Reasons for not keeping chickens
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Respondentpercentage
Reasons for not keeping chickens

7. RESULTS
Feeding practices
Feed items
Proportion of households
providing item
Maize or maize bran 68.0%
Sorghum 44.2%
Kitchen or table leftovers 28.5%
Millet 21.7%
Table 2: Commonly provided feed items for chickens
62.8% of
households
reported
providing
additional feed
to chickens in
May 2014
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Numberofrespondents
Months
Figure 2: Trend on feed supplementation

8. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Bedroom Chicken house kitchen Outside
Percentage
Places
RESULTS
Chicken housing
Figure 3: Location where chickens are kept overnight

9. RESULTS
Use of poultry products
Uses
% of HH
used
chicken
Number
chickens
(per
household)
% of HH
used eggs
Number
eggs
(per
household)
Consumed within
household
25.2 0.5 25.6 1.7
Consumed during
guest visits
6.4 0.1 2.1 0.8
Sold 16.7 0.6 2.9 0.06
Given as a gift 1.7 0.05 0 0
Table 3: Average number of chickens and eggs used for various purposes
(Sanza ward, May 2014)

10. RESULTS
Seasonal patterns in mortality, consumption and sale
Figure 3: Reported timing of chicken deaths, sale and consumption
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Numberofrespondents
Months
Selling Consumption Deaths

11. DISCUSSION
Potential areas for intervention
 Increasing chicken flock size
 Promoting feed supplementation for chickens
 Improving the quality of supplementary feed
 Promoting disease control
 Educating on the importance of chicken housing
 Promoting use of poultry products (including sale and consumption)
 Providing entrepreneurship education

12. CONCLUSION
 Promoting village chicken-keeping is an important avenue towards
combating under-nutrition for the poor
 Education on the use of poultry products by pregnant women,
breastfeeding women and young children should be emphasized