Improvement of Village Chicken Production in a Mixed (Chicken-Ram) Farming System in Burkina Faso
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Improvement of village chicken production in a mixed (chicken-ram) farming system in Burkina Faso Promotoren: Prof. dr. ir. M.W.A. Verstegen Hoogleraar Diervoeding Wageningen Universiteit Prof. dr. A.J. Nianogo Hoogleraar Dierlijke Productiesystemen Universiteit van Ouagadougou, Burkino Faso Co-promotoren: Dr. ir. R.P. Kwakkel Universitair docent bij de leerstoelgroep Diervoeding Dr. ir. M.A. Slingerland Universitair docent bij de leerstoelgroep Gewas- en Onkruidecologie Promotiecommissie: Prof. dr. ir. H. van Keulen Wageningen Universiteit Prof. dr. C. Schweigman Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Dr. ir. H.M.J. Udo Wageningen Universiteit Prof. dr. Anne Valle Zárate Universiteit van Hohenheim, Duitsland Dit onderzoek is uitgevoerd binnen de onderzoekschool: Wageningen Institute for Animal Sciences Improvement of village chicken production in a mixed (chicken-ram) farming system in Burkina Faso Salam R. Kondombo Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor op gezag van de rector magnificus van Wageningen Universiteit, prof. dr. M.J. Kropff, in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 8 november 2005 des namiddags te vier uur in de Aula Kondombo, S.R. (2005) Improvement of village chicken production in a mixed (chicken-ram) farming system in Burkina Faso PhD Thesis, Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, Animal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands With summaries in English, French and Dutch ISBN: 90-8504-295-X Abstract Kondombo, S.R., 2005. Improvement of village chicken production in a mixed (chicken-ram) farming system in Burkina Faso. PhD Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Animal production in general and chickens and small ruminants in particular play important socio- economic roles in developing countries. Production of village chickens is a source of easy and regular income for rural farmers in developing countries in general and in Burkina Faso in particular. Unfortunally efforts to improve this production system were not very effective and village chickens still have low productivity. Due to the roles of village chickens, the Strategic Research Plan of Burkina Faso recommended to invest in gathering knowledge on this production and in conducting research for the improvement of the system. The current study started with surveys and literature reviews to analyse the existing production systems at farm level. Special attention was given to farmers’ practices and to identification of local feed resources and their use. Secondly studies were designed in order to improve the most common village chicken production systems based on scavenging. On-station studies were undertaken in 2 research stations in the Central and the East Regions of Burkina Faso and on-farm trials were undertaken in 6 villages in the same regions. System analyses showed that both village chicken and sheep fattening could be used for improvement of livestock production and subsequent income generation at rural farm level. Furthermore, an integrated village chicken and ram- fattening farming system appeared to be a promising possibility for village chicken improvement. It allows to control village chicken scavenging and to reduce the high risks related to the free-range system. The studies demonstrated that regular supplementation with locally available feedstuffs as sorghum or local beer by-product can be used as feeding strategies to improve village chicken production. Commercial complete chicken diets may also be used but only as supplement to scavenging because village chickens did not perform well with complete diets in confinement conditions. Further, crop residues can be valorised in sheep fattening with incorporation of 30% of concentrate feed. The results of these studies are used to integrate village chickens and ram fattening production in an Integrated Production System (IPS). The results of this IPS indicate that with adequate supplementation the IPS allows to achieve a daily growth of village cockerels up to 10.4 g/d/bird. Such a level was not found in other conditions of feeding tested so far. Taking the case of Burkina Faso, the study demonstrated that the IPS can serve to obtain an annual income that is above the low poverty line. The tested IPS is an integrated farming system in which rams are fattened and village chickens are allowed to scavenge on the refusals of these rams. In this IPS chickens and rams are reared in a limited area. These controlled conditions give the opportunity to invest with low risks in village chicken production by improving feeding, health care, housing and management, making village chicken rearing more profitable. IPS appears to be a framework within which most activities for improvement of village chicken production can be implemented. IPS fits to farmers’ conditions and strategies of keeping multiple species and using essentially locally available resoruces. IPS can be used for poverty alleviation in developing countries in General and in Burkina Faso in particular. Keywords: Village chickens, sheep, production system, feeding, fattening, Integration, Burkina Faso. To - my father Pousga Kondombo and my mother Simandé Bonkoungou, - my wife Salamata, my son Ghislain Arouna, my daughters Acha Gisèle and Djimila Rosine, - my sister Mme Kafando/Kondombo Solange. Contents General introduction 1 Chapter 1 Village chicken production systems 13 1.1 Village chicken production in developing countries 15 1.2 Comparative analysis of village chicken production systems between two farming systems in Burkina Faso 23 1.3 Research and development activites on village chickens in Burkina Faso so far 35 Chapter 2 Overview on small ruminant’s production system in developing countries 41 Chapter 3 Feed resource base for fattening sheep and village chickens in Burkina Faso 49 3.1 Availability of agro-industrial by-products in Burkina Faso 51 3.2 Local feed resources for fattening sheep and village chickens in Burkina Faso 57 3.2.1 Local feed resources for fattening sheep in Burkina Faso 57 3.2.2 Seasonal variation in the availability of feedstuffs for scavenging village chickens at farm level 63 Chapter 4 Feeding strategies for village chicken production improvement 73 4.1 Effects of local feedstuff supplementation on performance and nutritional status of village chickens during the end of the rainy season in Burkina Faso 75 4.2 Effects of commercial pullet feed on village chicken performance 83 Chapter 5 Strategies to improve ram fattening at farm level 93 5.1 Performance of Djallonké rams fed with crop residues 95 5.2 Models to transfer the knowledge on sheep-fattening diets, formulated at research stations, to farm level 101 5.3 Increase in the availability of forage by the combination of dolic with cereals 111 Chapter 6 Relationship between village chickens and small ruminants: A design of an Integrated (village chicken/sheep fattening) Production System (IPS) 121 Chapter 7 Improvement of village chicken production by associating village chicken production to sheep fattening 141 General discussion 153 References 163 Summary 175 Résumé 181 Samenvatting 189 List of publications 195 Acknowledgements 197 Curriculum vitae 199 Funding 200 GENERAL INTRODUCTION General introduction Strategic role of livestock in Sahelian traditional livelihood systems The role of livestock in developing countries in general and in Sahelian regions in particular is already well reviewed by many authors (Ayantunde, 1998; Nianogo and Somda, 1999; Guèye, 2000; Slingerland, 2000). In Sahelian countries animal production is after crop production, the second activity of the population. The level of industrialisation is low and employment in the modern sector (public services and private business) is practically negligible (Slingerland, 2000). About 65 to 80% of the human population live in rural areas (Guèye, 2000; Ndegwa et al., 2001) and their life is strongly linked to crop and livestock production. Livestock sustains agriculture in Sahelian regions by supplying food, draught power, and manure, and thus direct (by off-takes) or indirect income for the rural households. For example, in Burkina Faso, livestock represents the second resource after cotton and constitutes the second exportation product. It participates to 13% of the Gross Domestic Product (DREE, 1999) and in 1997 livestock represented 28% of total agriculture production. In the following section we will demonstrate the strategic role of livestock in Sahelian traditional livelihood. Social, cultural and religious roles of livestock Livestock is known to play an important role in social and cultural life in developing countries in general and in Sahelian countries in particular (Tadelle and Ogle, 1996; Sonaiya et al., 1999; Slingerland, 2000). Cattle is considered as an object of prestige and a sign of richness in crop production farming systems, whereas for the Fulani who practice the livestock farming system, life is organised in direct relation to cattle breeding. Small ruminants (sheep and goat), and family poultry are frequently used as gifts for relatives, sacrifice, marriage or religious ceremonies (Sonaiya et al., 1999; Slingerland, 2000). In Senegal, Guèye (2000) indicated that poultry has a mystical function and farmers believe that bad spirits which target the family can be diverted to chicken. As a result of this, the chosen birds often show neurological symptoms. The author indicated that this might explain partly the fact that in each Senegalese village household, there is a strong wish to keep