Strengthening Livelihoods through Poultry Production in Arusha and West Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The Problem:
Small-scale poultry-keeping plays an important role as a source of food for rural households in Tanzania, providing nutrition from eggs and meat and an income from sales of eggs and chickens.

Indigenous chickens kept by rural households in Tanzania supply 100% of the poultry meat and eggs in rural areas and 20% of the poultry meat and eggs consumed in urban areas. Smallholder farmers usually keep flocks of around 10 – 30 chickens.

Chicken housing is rudimentary or non-existent and they scratch and scavenge to obtain their feed, with any poultry feed supplements being of a low quality. Husbandry and disease control measures are poor with diseases such as Newcastle Disease, fowl typhoid and infectious coryza causing many deaths among flocks of chickens. Newcastle Disease is a particular problem, causing 30 - 40% losses. Support and training in the sector from government extension services is poor and marketing of poultry is un-coordinated, leading to low returns.

VETAID’s solution:
We work with small scale farmers in Arusha and West Kilimanjaro regions of Tanzania to increase the food and income that can be produced by keeping chickens. This is done by strengthening poultry production through activities such as:

• Providing training in management practices such as appropriate housing and feeding
• Improving production through the introduction of cross-breeding
• Introducing disease control measures
• Coordinating vaccination against common diseases such as Newcastle Disease
• Helping to form trading associations and revolving credit schemes to support coordinated marketing by small-scale farmers.

Sustainability

The skills which the small-scale farmers learn enable them to produce more and better quality chickens for their family diet and for sale. Experience from other VETAID programmes has demonstrated that successful production and husbandry techniques are often taken up by others in the community, which will broaden the impact of our activities.

By involving government staff in the project, it will be possible for small-scale farmers outwith the initial project area to receive training in future on poultry production. The formation of trading associations will enable farmers to develop strong links to market outlets, thus maximising returns now and in the future.