Why Naked Neck Poultry Needs to be put in Focus in Africa by Ivo Arrey Mbongaya Abstract This article advocates for cost saving and other benefits in the farming of Naked Neck chicken breed in Africa. It is based on academic literature and research conducted under African Centre for Community and Development.

1. Why Naked Neck Poultry needs to be put in Focus in
Africa.
Author: Ivo Arrey Mbongaya
African Centre for Community and Development P. O. Box 181 Limbe,
Cameroon
https://www.facebook.com/African-Centre-for-Community-and-Development-
103686769685856/
https://www.youtube.com/user/AfricanCentreforCom/featured
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2998648/
Emails: arreymbongayaivo@gmail.com or oldboyarret@yahoo.com or
ivo@africancentreforcommunity.com Date: 01/09/2018
©2018 African Centre for Community and Development. All Rights Reserved.

2. Abstract
This article advocates for cost saving and other benefits in the farming of Naked Neck
chicken breed in Africa. It is based on academic literature and research conducted under
African Centre for Community and Development.
Naked Neck is a breed of chicken with no feathers on the bird’s neck and vent (See
Poultry Genetics for Exhibition Breeders. Last updated: 13 Nov, 2008). The origins of
the bird are linked to Transylvania (disambiguation) in today's Romania. It has since
been farmed extensively in Germany, Latin America and is gaining traction in Africa
especially where/when it is bred with broiler and local strains. The reasons why it could
be the fowl to consider or to be put in focus are varied. They include the following:
 Firstly it is a meat giving variety and with big households in Africa and many
developing countries, it can help to increase and diversify rural incomes or
increase/improve access to proteins while stepping up food security (See
Importance of Indigenous Breeds of Chicken for Rural Economy and Their
Improvements for Higher Production Performance).
 Secondly Naked Neck chickens are resilient to diseases. Resilience to Newcastle
disease has been observed by farmers and scientists as well a more developed
maternal/motherly instinct in times of predatory attacks. (See
https://www.nation.co.ke/business/seedsofgold/Motherly-chicken-that-provides-
more/2301238-2569780-b1mjuo/index.html ).
 Moreover Naked Neck has physical attributes that help the species to resist heat.
In this context of climate change and the ambient temperatures in places like
Africa (See Interactions between the naked neck gene, sex, and fluctuating
ambient temperature on heat tolerance, growth, body composition, meat quality,
and sensory analysis of slow growing meat-type broilers. Livestock Science.
Volume 110, Issues 1-2, June 2007, Pages 33-45), the benefits of farming
Naked Neck are enormous as the species is not only resilient, it also adapts well
and trials with local village poultry have been successful (Adomako et al, 2014)
and helped improve the egg giving dimensions of the emergent hybrids
(Guèye,1998) .
 Also Naked Neck poultry are great scavengers hence more adapted to survive on
little costs from farmers of the species.
Despite these advantages, the farming of Naked Neck in Africa and some developing
parts of the globe is affected by systemic issues affecting valorization and vulgarization
of the species in Africa and they include the following:
 Lack of financing despite the fast growing demand for meat giving species in
Africa and among her about 400 million strong middle class. Indeed “fewer than
15% of lenders in Africa are offering services to agri-business and smallholders. In

3. regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers typically farming less
than two acres produce 70% of the total food consumed. But it is effective.
Economic growth in agriculture is up to 11 times as effective at reducing poverty
as growth in other sectors” (See
https://www.euractiv.com/section/africa/news/bridging-african-agricultures-
financing-gap/ ). Gaps are huge despite the investment opportunities that exist
to improve on access to financing for smallholder farmers as well as for small and
medium size enterprises hence reducing the rate of growth in the region.
 Lack of data, effective instruments to spread tested practices on the Naked Neck
species and other products or to analyze markets or institutional gaps is affecting
public/private policy makers from designing more performing businesses that
can boost this and other sectors. This is exacerbated by the informal nature of the
agricultural sector and many economies in Africa and the developing world.
 Moreover poor use of breeding technologies and the unaffordable dimension of
some including hatchers and incubators are deterring entries into poultry farming
and pushing farmers out of the trade for more affordable options. This situation
is exacerbated by the high price of grains and resulting poultry feed in Africa.
(See Betta Grains: weekly East Africa Regional Grain Trade Analysis.
http://www.bettagrains.com/ ).
 Besides poor partnerships between farmers and investors as well as poor
understanding of markets locally are having dire consequences on the sector.
This has led to financing stakeholders imagining that there are no off-takers for
poultry or protein-based foods across Africa. A situation which is absolutely not
apt as chicken is the basis of most cultural rites and ceremonies across Africa as
well as a major staple in many countries. In Cameroon and Nigeria, chicken is
eaten as grilled or roasted meat as well as fried and consumed in soups as well as
snacks. In the West and most Fondoms of the North West Region of Cameroon
for instance, chicken is eaten alongside huckleberry and corn fufu in a traditional
and now national meal called “Kati Kati” (See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9VCliNxQm0 ) hence justifying a market
that can by extrapolation be found across Africa.
 Also, vocational training of modern poultry farmers and workers is marred by lack
of financing in this area as well as lack of partnerships intimated above. It must
be stated that vocational education and training has also been identified as
positive entry points for impact investing in Africa.

4. Naked neck poultry..
Despite these roadblocks naked neck poultry should be put in focus as a viable
commercial product and in order to improve access to proteins and to better food
security in Africa and the developing world. How? There are many devices that can be
put in place that include the following:
 To begin Naked Neck adoption and valorization should be shaped and promoted
within devices of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this light they can have
necessary visibility for action across relevant segments of international
development.
 African countries can also distribute these species as day old chicks or mature
breeders alongside other local species in order to vulgarize adoption and
availability as well as to create communal gene banks especially in farming rural
centres. Governments can run programmes to increase availability of fertilized
eggs, produce local incubators or subsidize the market of incubators and
hatchers. Solar powered incubators and hatchers will also cut the cost of
stakeholders engaged in poultry farming as well as affordable feed production
industries or systems. Poultry technologies should and can also be taught in
vocational training centres across these countries. These centres are important
pillars in ecosystems of poultry farming worldwide and particularly for Africa with
high rates of youth unemployment. Indeed “according to recent estimates by the
World Bank, more than 10 million young Africans, often poorly skilled, leave the
school system every year in search of jobs in local employment markets which are

5. not expanding fast enough to create jobs” (See
http://africapolicyreview.com/the-importance-of-tvet-in-africas-socio-economic-
development/ ).
 More so, poultry related capacity building can also be the basis of government
extension services for ministries of agriculture and health as a way to improve
food security, fight malnutrition, stunting and building resilience to diseases in
Africa and the developing world. As rural areas are cutoff from markets in many
countries, boosting rural naked neck poultry production systems will create rural
economies and narrow the gaps between urban and rural areas, women and men
as well as reduce vertical and horizontal inequalities within communities and
within countries (See Inequalities and Conflict in Africa: An empirical
investigation).
 More so, partnerships between financing stakeholders and land
owners/entrepreneurs/researchers in Africa under fair business instruments must
be stepped up. Financing must integrate virtual incubation to effective businesses
that see into more effective use of entrepreneurial, situational intelligence and
financial acumen/resources. This will facilitate equity and impact investing as well
as create cross-organizational cultures which arguably are best in the delivery of
modern globalized, cross cultural business operations. This also entails holistic
analyses of data, needs and solutions to gaps in areas of food production or to
nutrient deficiencies in Africa and the developing world.
 Also African countries are recently performing more positively than it is generally
accepted (See The Economist, 2016) and six of these countries are among the
ten fastest growing economies in the world. Therefore more flexible and inclusive
approaches must be used to develop businesses or to invest in Africa in order to
impact better.
Therefore, despite issues in the adoption of Naked Neck poultry in many countries, the
species can with the right policies and instruments be a viable commercial product. The
fowls are a meat and egg giving variety, resilient to high temperatures/diseases and
eaten as a tasty meat in diverse forms. More focus on the vulgarization of poultry
technologies, breeding and distribution of the species as well as on poultry markets can
seriously boost the sector and other value chains in Africa where there is extensive
agricultural/pasture land and where village poultry is already a tested and thriving
tradition. Africa is also home to 1.2 billion people who need food and are the market
impact investors and other relevant stakeholders should be looking at or
working/walking with. Naked Neck poultry can be a major feature in this equation.

6. Above Locally made incubator/hatcher designed at the African Centre for Community and
Development. The organization seeks funding partners to vulgarize the technology to
households in Cameroon and Africa.
Feed formula/Feed being mixed for poultry at the African Centre for Community and
Development’s poultry pilot. Without a good understanding of markets in grains and
other products, poultry farming is difficult for smallholders hence the need for
financing/capacity building in the sector.

7. Naked Neck rooster and other cocks (above) bred and raised at the African Centre for
Community and Development and used in breeding other fowls. Support replication of
tested practices for food security and poverty alleviation or to spread knowledge. Picture
by Author: Ivo Arrey Mbongaya
Meat and egg giving fowls (above) developed at the African Centre for Community and
Development. The organization has so far published multimedia on her works in these
areas across the globe and is open for consultations and professional paid invitations to
help better development management, livestock keeping, market research, policy designs,
impact investing, poverty alleviation, fight against hunger/malnutrition as well as the
Sustainable Development Goals. Picture by Author: Ivo Arrey Mbongaya

8. Bibliography/References
Betta Grains: weekly East Africa Regional Grain Trade Analysis.
http://www.bettagrains.com/
Guèye E. H. F. (1998) “Village egg and fowl meat production in Africa,” World's Poultry
Science Journal, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 82–86.
Mahendra K. P. ( 2016) Importance of Indigenous Breeds of Chicken for Rural
Economy and Their Improvements for Higher Production Performance. Published in
Scientifica Volume 2016, Article ID 2604685, 9 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/2604685
Inequalities and Conflict in Africa: An empirical investigation. Published Online in
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321193695_Inequalities_and_Conflict_in_Africa
_An_empirical_investigation
K. Adomako, O. S. Olympio, J. K. Hagan & J. A. Hamidu (2014) Growth performance of
crossbred naked neck and normal feathered laying hens kept in tropical villages,
British Poultry Science, 55:6, 701-708, DOI: 10.1080/00071668.2014.960805
Poor data hurts African countries’ ability to make good policy decisions. Published
Online in https://qz.com/africa/762729/poor-data-is-hurting-african-countries-ability-
to-make-good-policy-decisions/
The Economist, 2016: Tear down these walls. Africa’s internal trade deals look good on paper.
Pity that they are rarely followed. Feb 27th, 2016.
©2018 African Centre for Community and Development. All Rights Reserved.