Poultry is a key livestock commodity dominated by women in Ethiopia, who undertake most production activities and control income, although productivity remains low due to disease and predation. Key interventions include improved disease control, feeding, housing, and market linkages to enhance productivity across different poultry systems. Challenges such as reliance on government support and insufficient extension services can hinder women's advancement from subsistence to semi-commercial production.

1. Women and Poultry Value Chain Development
Background
• Poultry is one the women dominated livestock commodities in Ethiopia Improving Productivity and Market
The gender baseline survey undertaken by IPMS revealed that women perform most of the production activities such as hatching,
Success of Ethiopian Farmers
rearing, hygiene, feeding, watering, protection and egg collection.
They also control the income form the sale eggs and chicken in all Pilot Learning woredas of the project except in Bure and Alaba
where both the workload and the income are shared between men and women.
• Though many famers sell more than 50% of the produce, chickens are not produced in market orientated way
• One of the main problem of poultry production in Ethiopia is low productivity and high mortality rate ‐ as high as 80‐90%
due to diseases and predation (Tegegne et al, 2010)
• Supply of inputs and services and marketing for small holders is still in its infancy
Traditional poultry system
Key intervention
• Improved disease control ‐ vaccination
• Improved feeding with local ingredients
• Improved housing to protect from predation
Semi‐commercialized poultry system
Key Intervention
• Increased number local/improved chickens(25‐50), improved feeding Photo
with local and purchased feeds, disease control, improved housing
combined with protected scavenging
suggestions
use as needed
• Village level vaccination system
• Specialized village level hatchery, pullet production with credit
• Market linkages with local restaurants, educational institutions
Commercialized poultry system
Key Intervention
• Large number of improved breeds (>400), use of concentrate feed
with vitamins and minerals, disease control, confined/improved
housing
• Agro dealerships with day old chicks, pullets, feed and vaccination
services
• Contracts with large scale sellers of eggs
Lessons learned Challenges
• Poultry production and marketing is • Dependency on government support hampers
suitable for women , since they have private initiatives in supply of inputs and services
traditional knowledge and enterprise does • Extension services insufficiently equipped to
not require much land provide continuous expert follow up
• Targeting women for training and • Future supply by large scale commercial producers
knowledge sharing can move women from vis‐à‐vis small holder commercial producers
subsistence to semi‐ commercial producers unknown
• Women can be involved in vaccination and • Input supply (chicks, feed and vaccine) limit scaling
raising of pullets as a business if credit is out
available to develop the business • Limited knowledge and skill in semi‐commercial
• Broiler production need to be tested and commercial poultry production system