Review of the Socio-economic Importance of Village Poultry Production in Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper sought to review the socioeconomic importance of village poultry production in Ethiopia. The review indicated that poultry has played, and still plays important social and cultural roles in the life of rural people for building social relations with other villagers. The review also confirmed the widely recognized contribution of smallholder poultry keeping to the income and internal household position of women. However, there is generally a scant literature on poultry marketing system in the country, the limited research showed that a large number of marketing agents are involved along the poultry marketing chain where on average a trader handles between 40 to 100 chickens per week while the middle man manages 2000 eggs per month. Moreover the review identified that the average number of birds that are sold at local markets ranges from 30 to 400 per day. The chicken and egg marketing channels in the country are informal and poorly developed where chicken and eggs are sold to consumers within the villages, on roadsides and in local and urban markets. Furthermore input supply system for exotic breeds is poorly developed or nonexistent and characterized by high price and inconsistent availability if it exists. The input supply system for local breeds is also poor and inconsistent in availing inputs like compound feed and veterinary services that cannot be found in local market places. Even if it existed, characterized by high price and found in long distance from the farmers resident. Finally the current review identified that such poorly developed poultry input supply system can have adverse effect on the productivity and profitability of the subsector.

Key words: village poultry, socioeconomics