dr.ali mohamed ali iye book of requirements for family poultry development

7/27/2019 Dr.ali Mohamed Ali Iye Book of Requirements for Family Poultry Development

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Prepared by: Dr.Ali Mohamed Ali Iye ( Ali Kanu)

Though the great majority of these programs and

projects are still being carried out, we can already

learn some lessons that may be of interest to

initiators of similar programs.

Based on experiences from Burkina Faso, Togo and

Mali, the objective of this paper is to initiate a

debate around the required conditions for a

development of family poultry.

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Development Tools

a) Database

In many African countries, the problem of reliable

statistics is the major constraint to appropriate

planning and programming for family poultry

development programs. As it was pointed out

during the two latest workshops of the former

ANRPD, now INFPD, in Ethiopia (1995) and

Senegal (1996), the numbers and sizes of flocks

per poultry species as well as the main production

parameters under husbandry conditions are not

well-known. The existing data on poultry are

mainly limited to chickens; ducks and other poultry

species are less known (Kuit et al., 1986;

Anonymous, 1995; FAO, 1995).

The INFPD will provide a harmonized data

collection and evaluation methodologies (census,

classical surveys, accelerated participatory research
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method). With this in view, training handbooks

have already been published under the supervision

of ANFPD (Aklobessi et al., 1993)

b) Intervention strategyTargeted interventions carried out under the

support of development partners have been noted

in many countries. These countries have asserted

their firm intention to conduct appropriate national

programs aiming at the development of traditional

poultry farming. Such programs were successfully

carried out in Burkina Faso (Ouandaogo, 1997).

Within the framework of its Special Program for

Food Security, the FAO is assisting many countries

in the formulation and implementation of national

family poultry development policies (FAO, 1997;

Traor, 1998). These programs are generally

initiated within the context of a short-cycle animal

development policy.

Intervention strategies are mainly based on:

- disease control, especially the Newcastle disease;

- improvement of poultry housing with the diffusion

of improved poultry houses;

- genetic improvement of local chickens by crossing

with exotic breeds.

In some countries like Burkina-Faso, Togo, Guinea

and Senegal, this strategy is accompanied by an

important training component for peasant poultry


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keepers. These peasants pay for part of poultry

health care costs. The programs also host activities

for the empowerment of women, who are the main

stakeholders and beneficiaries of family poultrydevelopment (Burkina, Togo, Mali).

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Accompanying measures

a) Access to services and technical support

The access to services and technical support is

essential for the success and the durability of

deployed actions. This access is seen in both the

existence of service performers and the cost of the

performed services. Technical support has so far

been provided by the government through its

extension services, they were free of charge for

poultry keepers. Prophylactic cares (vaccination,

control of parasites, etc.) and therapeutic cares are

charged. These cares are given either by state

agents or by private veterinarians.

The so called in some countries village

vaccinators or village auxiliaries, which are

newly trained poultry keepers, have shown their

willingness to perform poultry health cares

themselves. The NGO Vtrinaires Sans

Frontires has made valuable efforts in the

training of village para-veterinarians (Senegal,

Togo).


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In Togo, a total of 750 village auxiliaries were

trained between 1992 and 1996. Their intervention

have caused a significant rise in vaccination figures

which jumped from 20,000 in 1992 up to morethan 594,000 birds in 1996 (Anonymous, 1997). It

is important to notice, from the example of Togo,

that these auxiliaries, which were first considered

as rivals and rejected by private veterinarians, have

become presently their best helpers in

interventions in rural areas. The auxiliaries allow

private veterinarians to reach villages birds

(Traor, 1997; Badj and Bebay, 1998). The

performing of this kind of service needs to be

regulated and controlled in order to avoid possible

misuse. In Togo, for instance, animal husbandry

and veterinary services have reported cases of

clandestine vaccinations.

Villagers have suffered heavy losses after such

vaccinations, but it has never been proved that

they were PNPE trained auxiliaries. The PNPE

experience in Togo, shows that the most important

thing in conducting such a strategy is that:

- the auxiliary should be elected by his own

community;

- the geographical area of intervention must be

limited;

- the technical gestures and animal species must

be specified;

- the auxiliary must, if possible, work in pair with a


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private or governmental veterinarian.

The use of the syringe is still indispensable because

of the quite exclusive use of injectable

thermostable vaccines (e.g. ITA New). This may

soon change with encouraging results obtained

from trials carried out for the diffusion of the

thermostable vaccine with ocular and nasal

application (Spradbrow and Copland, 1995;

Spradbrow and Grimes, 1997).

b) Problems of access to inputs

In contrast with the commercial poultry production,

family poultry does not require much investment.

The main inputs are medicines (e.g. vaccines and

parasiticides), building materials and equipment for

improved poultry houses, exotic poultry breeds

and, to a lesser extent, food. The problem of

access to these inputs comes up at two levels:

- the non-availability of the products and

- their cost

Taking the particular case of medicines, village

veterinary drugstores have appeared in some

countries such as Togo, where the training of

village auxiliaries was accompanied by the creation

of peasant managed veterinary drugstores(Anonymous,1997)

The increasing cost of medicines is a serious

obstacle to the development of family poultry.


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Therefore, research efforts to develop traditional

pharmacopoeia must be undertaken and/or

pursued. Access to inputs will be facilitated with

the setting-up of a decentralized credit policy inwhich rural community must be strongly involved.

This may be sustained by targeted aid approaches

which comes in addition to personal contributions,

as was experimented in Togo (Anonymous, 1997).

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Farmers organization

As it is pointed out by Ouandaogo (1997) in a

study on rural poultry development in Burkina

Faso, the organization in family poultry production

is not an easy task. The fact that this poultry

production is family oriented must be taken into

account. Access to services, inputs, the information

and training for poultry keepers should be designed

accordingly. The processing and marketing of

poultry products can be the next services to be

addressed by poultry keepers organizations.

The difficulty of access to services and inputs

motivates the setting-up of organizations. Most

village poultry development programs have

therefore encouraged the emergence of "servicegroups", which can exploit the services of a village

auxiliary as it is the case in Burkina-Faso and Togo.

The management village veterinary drugstores

funds, as it was initiated in Togo, has required the


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system.

In some countries like Togo and Burkina-Faso the

training allows smallholders to perform technical

gestures that are so far reserved to veterinarians

such as the use of the syringe (vaccination against

Newcastle disease). Such decisions have to be

taken by governments, only after a proper

evaluation of the capacity of the conventional staff

(private or state veterinarians) to satisfy the

demand for health care at efficient cost.

However, the practice of para-veterinarian activities

must necessarily be properly regulated (i.e.

statutes, "recruitment" methods, training program,

etc.) and strictly controlled (i.e. intervention scale,

technical support, etc.). As it is mentioned above,

the application of the thermostable vaccine, which

does not necessitate any injection (Spradbrow andCrimes, 1997), will probably be the solution to this

delicate problem.

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Research and development activities

There will be a constant need for research and

development activities. These activities have tocontinue improving and validating methodology

approaches that are indispensable to correctly

identify obstacles and potentials. Thus

development actions can be better targeted and


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evaluated. INFPD can contribute to the elaboration

and the diffusion of such tools.

Current efforts to develop thermostable vaccines,

which are easy to administrate, must be

encouraged. Because of the great importance of

the Newcastle disease in avian pathology,

epidemiological surveys must be pursued and

extended to other species. The diffusion of

improved poultry houses should take into account

the acute problem of Argas sp. infestation as it was

reported in Togo and Mali.

Considering the high cost of imported veterinary

products, traditional pharmacopoeia should be

more investigated in therapeutic research with a

view to exploiting it in a larger scale, especially in

the control of coccidiosis and helminthiasis as well

as the control of insects in poultry houses.Interesting experimental results are reported in

Benin (Songho project), in Senegal (Guye, 1997)

and in Togo (Amge, 1997, personal

communication).

With regard to feeding aspects, research on

alternative protein (termites, maggots) and energy

sources must be pursued. Regarding the evaluation

of genetic resources of poultry, a systematic

characterization of local types should be done. Very

little work has yet been done on this field and


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efforts should be undertaken.

The research activities mentioned above could

make profit of the important opportunity offered by

existing information and research networks (e.g.

INFPD), universities and their research institutes

(e.g. Hohenheim, Queenland, Nigeria, etc.),

international co-operation agencies (e.g. FAO, CTA,

IDRC, etc.) as well as NGOs (e.g. VSF).

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Conclusions

The development of family poultry production has

become an important element in social and

economic development strategies in many

developing countries. It is particularly used in the

struggle against poverty and food shortage and in

policies that aim at empowering rural women.

The success of a family poultry development

program requires the following conditions:

a good database (i.e. good identification ofobstacles and potentials);

a good intervention strategy (i.e. interventionscale, intervention area, technical approach,

participation of the target population,

necessity to take in account gender and

development issues);

appropriate accompanying measures (e.g.


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access to technical support and to inputs,

research-development and training

activities, processing and marketing of

poultry products).

As other favourable development factors, it is

necessary to make use of national, regional and

international co-operation. Information and

research networks, South-South and North-South

co-operation programs must also be developed and

better exploited.

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References

Aklobessi, K.K., Kenkou, G.K et Kougbenya, L.

(1993): Manuel de formation pour la collecte de

donnes de base sur lAviculture Rurale. RADAR -

CRDI - Lom (Togo), 32p. Novembre 1993.

Amgee, Y. (1997): Communication personnelle.

Anonymous (1995): Situation de rfrence du petit

levage au Togo. Rapport technique, PNPE,

Atakpam, Togo.

Anonymous (1997): Rapport annuel des activits

1996. PNPE, Atakpam, Togo, Mars 1997.

Badj, Y. et Bebay, C. (1998): Exprience du PNPE

en matire damlioration de laviculture

traditionnelle. Communication lAtelier National


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sur le Petit levage au Togo. PNPE - Projet Tog

89/003. Nangbeto, 13 - 15 Mai 1998.

Branckaert, R. (1995): FAO and rural poultry. In:

Sonaiya, E. B. (Ed.). Sustainable Rural Poultry

Production in Africa. Proceedings of an

International Workshop, June 13-16, 1995, Addis-

Abeba, Ethiopia, pp. 24-29.

FAO (1995): Elaboration dun plan de

dveloppement de llevage au Togo. Rapport

technique, Vol 1. TCP/TOG/4452 - Rome, Avril1995.

FAO (1997): Programme Spcial de Scurit

Alimentaire (PSSA). Composante diversification.

Directives pour lincorporation de laviculture

familiale amliore. Rome, Mai 1997.

Guye, E.F. (1997): Diseases in village chickens:

Control through ethno-veterinary medicine. ILEIA

Newsletter 13 (2): 20-21.

Kuit, H.G., Traor, A. and Wilson, R.T. (1986):

Livestock production in Central Mali: ownership,

management and productivity of poultry in the

traditional sector. Tropical Animal Health andProduction 18: 222-231.

Ouandaogo, Z.C. (1997): Aviculture rurale et

dveloppement des femmes en milieu rural.


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Rapport PROMELPHA, Ouagadougou (Burkina-

Faso), Aot 1997.

Spradbrow, P. B. and Copland, J. (1995): The

control of Newcastle Disease in Asian Villages with

Thermostable Vaccines. In: Sonaiya,E. B. (ed).

Sustainable Rural Poultry Production in Africa.

Proceedings of an International Workshop, June

13-16, 1995, Addis-Abeba, Ethiopia, pp. 94-96.

Spradbrow, P. B. and Crimes, S. (1997): Local

production of thermostable Newcastle diseaseVaccine. ANRPD Workshop, 9-13 Dcembre 1997,

MBour, Sngal.

Traor, A. (1997): Expriences du Programme

National de Petit Elevage (PNPE) en matire de

dveloppement de laviculture villageoise au Togo:

lintervention des auxiliaires villageois dlevage.

ANRPD Workshop, 9-13 Dcembre 1997, MBour,

Sngal.

Traor, A. (1998): Conception des activits de

dmonstrations sur le petit levage dans les sites

du PSSA de la rgion de Mopti. Composante

diversification du Programme de Spcial de

Scurit Alimentaire. Rapport de Consultation, FAO,Bamako.

dr.ali mohamed ali iye book of requirements for family poultry development

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