Challenges and Opportunities of Small-Scale Poultry Farming in Nekemte City of Eastern Wollega, Ethiopia

Abstract

Sultan Abda Neja, Mezene Woyessa Bussa

The study was conducted to assess the challenges and opportunities of small-scale poultry farming in Nekemte city of East Wollega Zone Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. The study involved 110 smallholder poultry farmers who were purposely selected. Data were collected via pre-tested structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive sta- tistics in SPSS version 16. The major challenges identified in the survey were poultry disease, lack of poultry multi- plication centers, commercial feed, vaccine and vaccination activities, chemical disinfectants, and poultry production equipment. Small-scale farmers may not be able to afford poultry vaccines as they are often sold in large vials. The availability of day-old chickens of improved poultry breeds is also a challenge, and the price of vaccinated layer pullets is very high. Additionally, the production performance of improved layer breeds is dependent on the quality of feed, which is not readily available in the area. Most of the required production inputs are concentrated around the capital, resulting in high transportation and production costs for farmers in Nekemte. Opportunities for poultry production in the area include access to a market, available manpower for raising poultry, raw materials for con- structing poultry houses, and affordable cereal grains and agricultural by-products for use as poultry feed. However, farmers have a low perception of how to take advantage of these opportunities to reduce production costs or address the challenges they face. This suggests that poultry improvement and healthcare programs are inefficient or absent in the city. Similar constraints are likely to affect poultry producers throughout Ethiopia, except in Bishoftu, a known chicken production focus area. Therefore, the poultry improvement program should address these constraints while also adopting alternative technologies and extension packages to exploit potential opportunities, thereby improving food security and meeting the demand for protein in rural and urban settings.

PDF