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Contribution of small stock (Poultry) to Food Security and Poverty alleviation among the resource-constrained households Presented at the LWG - FAO 26 May 2011 Dr Bart Mupeta Research , M&E Manager Plan International Zimbabwe

Presentation Outline • Describe small livestock in general, what they are and their place in the smallholder • Give the highlights of village chicken in relation to food security • Challenges faced in village chicken production – disease and nutrition • Describe on Farm work managed by farmers feeding home grown feed formulation • Village chicken and hybrids in pens and on free range • Performance of birds in terms of weight gain, feed and water consumption, carcass composition, effect of farmer, profitability, conclude

What are Small livestock • Small livestock – the term encompasses all the traditional small livestock species (sheep, goats, pigs, poultry) and micro-livestock (bees, guinea pigs, rabbits etc) • Small livestock are often associated with resource constrained people • Small livestock are often part of rural development programs • These play a unique role/contribution to food, social welfare and income generation among resource-constrained citizens. • Mostly they provide entry point or poorest to start income generating

Village chicken and Food Security • Food security is efficiently achieved when people produce or have access to sufficient quantities of affordable, high quality food • Poultry production is the most efficient and effective way to increase availability of high protein food • Village chicken provide meat, eggs, special festivals, traditional ceremonies, gifts, petty cash (medicines, school fees etc) • Eggs can be stored under rural conditions more easily than any food of animal origin • Nutritively, eggs contain most essential amino acids large amounts of Ca, P, mg, zn and Fe, main source of vitamin A and Vitamin B complex • One egg provides 11.5% of daily protein requirements and 5% of daily energy requirement

Advantages of village chickens • Village chickens are one of livestock species that require few inputs to yield significant output in terms of meat and eggs • They are mostly owned and cared for by women and children • Chickens are the most livestock commonly kept by rural families • They are one of the few livestock that cause little impact on environment

Challenges facing village chicken production • Nutrition and disease (e.g. Newcastle) are greatest constraints to village chicken production • ND can cause up to 100% mortality in susceptible population during outbreaks and sporadic loses where disease is endemic • Where it is endemic the people recognise it and discourages them from investing • Control of ND results in substantial increase in village chicken numbers • Control of ND has been successful where project paid attention to social, cultural and economic issues such as community participation, gender sensitive extension activities, training of farmers and staff , cost recovery, distribution and marketing networks

Nutrition of village chickens • Village chickens are always associated with free range • For most of the year, they get 25-30% of their daily requirements from the range. • The high cost and limited supply of feed is a major factor limiting production and expansion of the poultry in the smallholder sector • Feed constitute 70 -75% of the total variable costs • Demand for alternative sources of low cost poultry feeds is high • Describe work done on farm with farmers to find alternative source of poultry feed, using locally grown crops with sunflower residue as a source of protein. • The work compared productivity of village chickens and commercial hybrids both in pens and on free range

Home grown diet formulation • Diet consisted of 30% low-fibre SF residue, ratio 1: 1.36: 2.18 (broiler concentrate, low-fibre SF residue and maize meal) . • Broiler concentrate was balanced for minerals and vitamins and contained 90% Soya bean meal. • The low-fibre SFR was a by-product of SF seed, with oil extracted using ram press machine. • About 1000kg SF seed (variety, PAN 7353) compressed to yield 240 kg oil and 720 kg SF residue. • SF residue passed through 1.4 mm screen to recover a low-fibre, high protein fraction and retain a high fibre, low protein fraction.

Diet CompositionDiet

Performance of Village chicken and hybrids in pens and Free range at 8weeks NS, P>0.05; * P<0.05; ***P<0.001 abcd Values with different superscripts in the same row are significantly different.

Performance of Village chicken and hybrids in pens and Free range at 12weeks NS, P>0.05; * P<0.05; ***P<0.001 abcd Values with different superscripts in the same row are significantly different

Carcass and nutrient composition (%) of lean in hybrid and village chickens raised in pens and on the free-range

Profitability of feeding low-fibre SF residue to hybrid and village chickens raised in pens and on the free-range at 8

Profitability of feeding low-fibre sunflower residue to hybrid and village chickens raised in pens and on the free-range at 12 weeks of age

Live weight of Village and Hybrid chicken in pens and free range • Village chickens are genetically slow growing and tend to have low mature body weight at the same age as hybrid chickens. • Hybrid chickens were heavier (2425g in pens & 1955g on free-range) • Compared to Village chicken (724g in pens & 703g free-range village). • However, these weights were higher when compared with 600g in village chickens and 1950g in hybrid when a standard commercial diet was given

Live weight of Village and Hybrid chicken in pens and free range • Hybrid in pen were 19% heavier than hybrid on the free-range • Village chickens in pen and free-range had 3% difference • Small difference linked to natural instinct and ability to scavenge under free-range. • Slaughtered village chickens on free range showed high content of insects in their crops. • Insects included, grasshoppers, earthworms and fly larvae, Hybrid contained mainly SFR diet. • Insects are rich in protein ranging from 42% CP in fly larvae, 60%CP in earthworm to 76% CP in grasshoppers

Carcass composition of Village and Hybrid fed local SF based diet • Mean dressing % in village chickens (60%) was low at 8 weeks compared with hybrid chickens (73%). • But the differences tended to diminish at 12 weeks. • Being 66% and 69% in penned and free-range hybrids and 65% in village chickens in pen and free-range. • Up to 8 weeks of age, offal in relation to carcass, grow at a high rate in village chickens compared with that in hybrid • Carcass yield in village chickens (652-724g) was low compared with hybrid chickens 1276-1712g at 12 weeks and at 8 weeks 393-400g and 1088 – 1348g respectively.

Quality of meat from Village chicken and Hybrids • Quality of meat from village chicken appeared more favourable in terms of higher protein (74%) and less carcass fat (33%) • Compared with 69% CP and 47-51% fat in hybrid. • The higher protein in village chicken carcass is attributed to the increased muscle development required for scavenging and at times flight • Similarly, the lower % body fat may be a consequence of the arboreal or feral mode of living. • High dietary fat intake is linked to incidences of cardiovascular diseases and cancer and that high body fat deposition is associated with inefficient energy metabolism, representing an economic loss to the producer

Water consumption of Village and hybrids in pens and free range • hybrid birds consumed 74% more water than village chickens, • Hybrid in pen consuming 26% more water than the free-range, • Village chickens in pen consumed 21% more water than those on the free-range. • Reliability empirical rule suggests that a bird will drink twice the weight of its feed intake • Water intake is related to feed consumption. • Water intake is more dependent on the availability of feed than feed is on the availability of water • The observed high differences between village chickens could be due to water economy, a survival mechanism developed by village chickens on the free-range

Management effect on chicken production between farms • Live wt, feed intake, water intake and mortality were indicators to evaluate management ability between farms. • The effects of the different treatments for each of the indicators were pooled together in order to facilitate comparison. • There were significant differences in management related to mortality, feeding, watering the chickens. • Farm 4 experienced the highest mortality and consistently showed low management for all parameters. • Farms 1, 5, 6, and 7 experienced zero mortality and appeared to apply reasonable management practices. • Successful poultry management requires the application of factors including skills, labour, feed and water management, record keeping, aptitude, hygiene and health. • output between farms is influenced by differences in farmer’s working knowledge of animal nutrition, disease and aptitude. Aptitude is the ability of the farmer to decide on certain critical operations in order to take corrective measures before major problems

Profitability of village and Hybrid chicken fed home grown feed in pens and free range • Gross margin analysis and return per dollar invested were used to evaluate the profitability of feeding low-fibre SFR diet. • Gross margin in village chickens increased with age, being high at 12 weeks than 8 weeks, while gross margin in hybrid decreased. • At 12 weeks, return per dollar from village chickens was significantly high compared with hybrid chickens. • Up to 8 weeks, it was more profitable to feed hybrid chickens as both gross margin and return per dollar were significantly higher than village • Village chickens on the free-range, supplemented with low-fibre SFR diet showed superior gross margin and return per dollar than village chickens raised in pens. • These results show that low-fibre SFR may be used as a viable option in poultry diets to feed both hybrid and village chickens in pen or as supplements on the free-range.

Conclusion • SF residue from manually operated ram press machine, may be passed through a 1.4-mm screen to obtain a low-fibre, high protein fraction. • The low-fibre SFR may then be used as a protein concentrate to formulate local poultry diets. • This could be an option to the problem of high cost and limited supply of commercial poultry feeds in the smallholder-farming sector. • Hybrid chickens given a low-fibre SFR diet were able to manifest their genetic superiority without adverse effects, with chickens raised in pen being heavier (2 425 g) than 2 000 g. • Therefore, low–fibre SFR diet could be a viable option to improving poultry production in the smallholder sector. • It may be given to hybrid or village chickens with no adverse effects on performance.

Conclusion • High mortality is a limiting factor when hybrid chickens are raised on the free-range, the birds have limited ability to scavenge under temperatures of  23oC, which prevail in most of the drier areas in Zimbabwe. • Village chickens are poor feed converters when kept in pens compared with those on the free-range. • The performance of village chickens improves with age, high feed efficiency, gross margin and return per dollar was experienced at 12 weeks. • Another advantage with village chickens is the high body protein and low body fat. • Considering this advantage, and taking into account the increasing demand by consumers for diets containing low levels of animal fat, there may exists a larger potential market for village chickens. • Based on low inputs and outputs, village chickens play a part in a balanced farming system with a unique role in the economy of the rural household, as a source of high protein for the family, provide small income and play part in the cultural life of the society.

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