Farmers’ preferences for tropically adapted improved chicken breeds in selected agro-ecological zones in Tanzania

Abstract

This study was carried out in twelve villages that were implementing the African Chicken Genetic Gain (ACGG) project in Mbeya and Mwanza regions. Multistage random sampling method was employed from Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) level to a village level in which respondents were systematically selected from a distribution list of chicks. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and 132 respondents were interviewed. The objective of this study was to identify smallholder farmers’ preference traits of improved chicken breeds compared to local ones. The results showed that, the majority of smallholder farmers i.e. 104 (78.8%) in the study areas preferred improved chicken breeds due to the traits of fast growth rate, large body size at maturity, higher egg production, easily adaptive to the local environment, bigger sized eggs and being sold easily. Moreover, the chi- square test shows that, improved chicken traits of egg production, large egg size and being sold at good prices were statistically significant at (p<0.05) between regions. However, 28 smallholder farmers i.e. 21.2%, preferred local chicken due to the traits of ability to survive, scavenging ability, good meat taste, mothering ability, good hatching ability and egg taste. In this case, the chi-square test shows that, local chicken trait of ability to survive had significant difference (p<0.05) between regions. It is therefore concluded that improved chicken breeds were preferred by the majority of farmers due to their traits such as fast growth rate and high egg production. It is thus recommended that chicken breeders should introduce chicken which have traits preferred by smallholder farmers.