Socio-economic, technical characteristics and challenges to local chicken production in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

T C Keambou, J R Kana¹, A M Ngah¹, A M Y Tedongmo¹, S Raquel Juliano², Frederico Lisita² and Y Manjeli¹

University of Buea, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, P.O. Box 63 Buea, Cameroon
keambou.tiambo@ubuea.cm
¹ University of Dschang, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Science, PO Box 222, Dschang-Cameroon
² Embrapa Pantanal, Corumba, MS – Brasil, CPAP. Rua 21 de setembro 1880 N. Sra. de Fátima 79320-900 Caixa-Postal: 109 Ramal

Abstract

The aim of this study was to gain understanding of local chicken farming system from the Western Highlands of Cameroonian. Interviews and structure questionnaire were applied to 156 household.

The main results showed that local chickens are bred by all the tribes in the area. Chicken farming is practiced by 58.3% of women, aged 30 to 50 years (51.3%) who provide 100% of the manpower. Farmers are from all religions, literacy level is relatively high (74.4%) although about 91% of farmers have never been trained in poultry farming, and 14.7% of them have been rearing local chickens for more than 20 years. Local chicken rearing has multiple purposes in 84.6% of farmers (self-consumption, markets, gift and savings). Local chickens farming contribute annually by more than 100.000F CFA to household income. Chicken farming is associated with small ruminants (26.3%), cattle (3.8%), pigs (3.2%) and other animal species (43.1%; dog, cat, commercial chicken broilers, ducks, rabbits guinea pigs). Farmers identified four main genetic types of local chicken, namely normal feathered chickens (98%), crested chickens (44%), naked-neck chickens (26.9%), feathered tarsus chickens (22 %) and frizzle chickens (4.5%). The size of the flocks varied from 7 to 70 with an average of 16 chickens per farm. The structure consists of 8.85% cocks, 23.35% adult hens, 22.1% growers and 45.6%chicks. Chickens were generally raised under free-range and extensive system (96.1%). They were kept overnight in kitchens (50.6%), locally made poultry houses (16.7%), huts (12.2%), abandoned houses (4.5%) while 16% of chickens slept on trees. Kitchen waste (98.7%), free scavenging (96.8%) and cereals (76.9%) were the main sources of feed. The average number of eggs produced in a year varied from 38 to 45 with a hatching rate of 79.6%. The main challenges in chicken farming were diseases (51.9%), predation (48.7%), financial issues for inputs acquisition and lack of equipment (44.2%), feed (41.02%), housing (33.9%), lack of improved genetic material (30.8%) and stock theft were the main constraints. Despite these challenges, most of local poultry farmers were planning to increase their flock size, improve housing, and acquire improved genetic material. This study suggest that more technical support to local chicken farmers could booster the productivity.

Key words: family poultry, production systems, constraints

Résumé

L’étude visait une meilleure compréhension des systèmes de production de la poule locale dans les Hautes Terres de l’Ouest Cameroun. Des interviews et questionnaires structure ont été appliqués à 156 ménages. Les principaux résultats montrent que la poule locale est élevée par toutes les tribus. Toutes les religions sont bien représentées dans cet élevage, ainsi que les femmes (58,3%) qui constituent la totalité de la main-d’œuvre (100%). Le taux d’alphabétisation est relativement élevé (74,4%) dans la zone. Environ 91% des éleveurs n’ont jamais reçu de formation en aviculture et 14,7% d’entre eux mènent cette activité depuis plus de 20 ans. L’objectif de l’élevage de la poule locale est multiple (84,6%) et vise ainsi l’autoconsommation, la vente, le don et l’épargne. l’élevage de la poule locale contribue annuellement pour plus de 100 000 FCFA au revenu des ménages. Les autres espèces animales élevées sont les petits ruminants (26,3%), les bovins (3,8%), les porcs (3,2%) et les autres espèces (43,1%; chien, chat, poulet de chair, canard, lapin, cobaye). Les principaux types génétiques rencontrés sont la poule à emplumement normal (98%), huppée (44%), cou nu (26,9%), tarses emplumées (22%) et frisée (4,5%), chaque éleveur pouvant élever plusieurs types génétiques. La taille du cheptel varie de 7 à 70 têtes avec une moyenne de 16 têtes par élevage. Le cheptel est constitué de 8,85% de Coqs, 23,35% de femelles adultes, 22,1% de coquelets et poulettes et 45.6% de poussins. La poule locale est en général élevée en extensif divagant (96,15%). Les animaux sont logés dans les cuisines (50,6%), les poulaillers (16,7%), les cases d’habitation (12,2%), les habitats abandonnés (4,5%) ou dorment sur les arbres (16%). Les déchets de cuisine (98,7%), la libre divagation (96,8%) et les céréales (76,9%) constituent les principales sources d’alimentation. Le nombre d’œufs pondus par an varie de 38 à 45. Le nombre d’œufs couvé varie de 08 à 15 œufs avec un taux d’éclosion de 79,62%. Le taux de mortalité de poussins de 0 à 3 mois varie de 50 à 53%. Les contraintes majeures a cet élevage sont les maladies (51,9%), la prédation (48,7%), l’absence de moyens financiers et matériels (44,2%), l’alimentation (41,0%), le logement (33,9%), le matériel génétique (30,8%) et le vol (20,5%). Malgré ces contraintes, la majorité des éleveurs souhaitent maintenir l’activité et augmenter la taille de leur cheptel. Cette étude suggère que plus de support technique soit accordé aux éleveurs de poules locales pour stimuler leur productivité.

Mots-clés: aviculture familiale, systèmes de production, contraintes

Introduction

Local chicken represent the highest proportion in total poultry production in many developing countries (FAO, 2009). Its breeding is practiced mainly by women and youth in an extensive or semi-intensive system. This type of farming is widespread in the rural areas (Agbede et al 1995; Faye and Oketoyin 2006) where almost all families keep at least a chicken in their compound. It does not require much investment or large spaces to start. In rural Africa, local chicken is the main source of meat and eggs for consumption, and is also an important source of income and employment for underprivileged populations (Bessadok 2003, Guèye2003, Khan 2004, Kingori et al 2010).

In Cameroon, the poultry sector contribute by one percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the national economy. It generates a net profit of 15 billion CFA francs and the consumption of chicken meat is 2 kg / capita / year (MINEPIA 2012). Thus, chicken remains a significant component of food security and plays an important role in generation of income and savings of the poorest families (Zaman et al 2004). An average revenue per year per household of about 100 000 FCFA was reported by Teleu and Ngatchou (2006).

Despite the advantages mentioned above, the local chicken breeding is characterized by low productivity in a still poorly known breeding system (Fotsa 2008). It is therefore necessary to take stock of the state of arts for a better knowledge of this sector, deduce the main challenges and propose solutions. Therefore, the overall objective of this study is to assess the socio-economic characteristics of the local chicken farmers in the Western Highlands of Cameroon, analyze their technical characteristics and deduce the main challenges in order to suggest necessary guidance to the development of that livestock sector.

Material and method

The area of study covers 7687 km² (figure 1) representing 55.3% of the total area of the Region and has a population of 455 083 inhabitants (BUCREP 2005).

The administrative Sub-divisions of Bangourain, Koutaba and Fumban, formerly designated as major production areas of local chickens and major supply centers were selected for the study.

The participatory approach allowed choosing 156 local poultry farmers for the study. Socioeconomic, technical and marketing data were obtained from a survey frame.

Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software 18.0 version and Microsoft Excel 2010.

Figure 1. Study site location

Results

Socio-economic characteristics of farmers

The sociological characteristics of local chicken farmers of the Western Highlands of Cameroon are presented in Table 1.

Raising local chickens is the tradition practiced by women (58.3%) and men (41.7%). About 79% of the local chicken farmers were married with a high proportion being in monogamous families (65.8%). The number of children and people in charge ranged from 5 to 10 (87.1%). 88.5% of respondents declared local chicken production as secondary activity. Farmers’ reasons for keeping local chickens are illustrated by figure 2.

Figure 2. Distribution of farmers according to rearing objectives

Rearing of local chickens has numerous objectives in 84.6% of the farmers. These include self-consumption, gifts, sacrifices, sales and savings.

It was also noticed that nearly 40.4% of the local chicken farmers have more than 5 years of experience in that activity. Traditionally, local chickens are used for traditional rituals, honouring guests and gifts and no religious taboos was associated with the rearing and consumption of local chicken in the area of study whose populations are mostly Muslims. The distribution of farmers according to the level of education is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Distribution of farmers according to their level of education

The literacy rate among farmers in the area was 74.4%. Furthermore, 91% of the farmers in the study area did not have basic training in poultry production. Local chicken farmers were amateurs, not necessary receiving technical assistance from livestock extension services.

Table 2 shows the distribution of farmers according to the mode of acquisition of animals.

The most common modes of acquisition of animals were buying in rural and urban markets (49%) and buying from another breeder (34%). The renewal of animal coming from outside the farm suggests that farmers have empirical knowledge of the management of their flock. The structure of the flock of local chicken in the Western Highlands of Cameroon is presented in Table 3.

The average flock size per household is about 16 chickens. This size fluctuate permanently due to culling and losses from various causes. The sex ratio was a cock for 4 adult hens. Other livestock and pets were associated with local chicken production (Table 4).

Local chicken farmers also kept other animal species such as sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, ducks and others. However, the proportion of small ruminants (26.3%) is more important.

Technical characteristics of the local chicken breeding

The study of the distribution of farmers according to farming systems revealed that the wandering extensive farming predominated (96.1%) in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. This farming system suffers from many conflicts and high rates of mortality due to negligence, ignorance of farmers and the lack of financial resources to invest in this production. Five genotypes were identified by farmers (Table 5). The normal plumage was strongly present in the population of the local chickens (98%). The other four types are crested, feathered tarsus, naked neck and frizzled.

Housing

Figure 4 shows the distribution of farmers according to the type of housing for local chickens in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. About 17% of farmers used chicken coops built with local materials such as Bamboo, straws, blocks and mud bricks. The roofs were usually of straw or old iron sheets. The floor was of earth type without bedding.

Figure 4. Distribution of farmers according to the type of housing for local chicken

Feeding management and drinking water supply

Table 6 presents the sources of feed for local chickens in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.

It appears that the local chicken feed source was varied. The three main feed sources were kitchen waste (98.7%) followed by scavenging (96.8%) and cereals (76.9%). The contribution of concentrated feed to the local chicken diet is marginal, though farmers are aware of its importance.

According to farmers the sources of drinking water is mainly from nature (89.1%) (i.e., rainwater, spring, etc.). Some farmers had boxes, canaries at the entrance or close to the chicken resting site containing water and sometimes veterinary products.

55.2% of farmers provided feed once a day, especially in the morning at the opening of the shelter or in the evening just on their return from the farm, whereas the rest of the farmers distribute occasionally when it is available. Feed supply varied according to the season and the availability of food waste.

Reproduction management

Table 7 shows the distribution of local chicken farmers according to reproduction parameters.

About 96% of hatching took place naturally by the hens with some farmers arranging the brooding nests of cardboard baskets in the kitchen corner. Only 3.9% of the farmers practiced artificial incubation in the present study, some farmers had locally manufactured incubators while other farmers incubated eggs for other farmers for a fee. Chickens of the area brood between 2 to 3 times per year (79.5%), however chicken brooding 4 times a year were also recorded in 14.7% of the farmers.

97.8% of chicken had a number of eggs laid varied from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 15 eggs per clutch. However, 3.2% of farmers declared chickens haying more than 15 eggs per clutch.

It appears that in 92.9% of farmers, the number of chicks hatched per hens varies from 7 to 30 chicks. This result may vary depending on weather and environmental conditions favourable or not to local chicken farming. However, due to many reasons chicks could not easily reach sexual maturity.

Local chicken health

Approximately, 74% of the farmers reported losing 50 to 100% of the birds before the age of 3 months. At this age, the chicks are exposed to unfavourable weather conditions and are vulnerable to diseases because of lack of vaccination, to predators and accidents.

The parameters of local chicken health in the Western Highlands of Cameroon are presented in table 8. The main causes of mortalities or animal losses were diseases (90%), predation (87.2%), theft (66%) and accidents (42%). Mortalities usually occurred at 0 to 3 months of age.

Health measures practiced by local chicken farmers revealed that 53% of farmers use non-veterinary drugs or ethno veterinary medicine such as Chloramphenicol capsules, metronidazole or tobacco leaves against fleas for example. Support from veterinary services is minimal.

According to the farmers, diseases appear throughout the year with a predominance during the dry season (76.3%) during which Newcastle disease appears and wipeout at least 50% of the animals.

Diarrhea and breathing difficulties were among the main symptoms encountered by farmers. The recurrence of these symptoms may be due to poor livestock practices characterized by unfavorable hygienic conditions.

Economy of local chicken production in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

The selling prices of live local chickens according to the categories are shown in table 9.

The prices of cocks were higher than those of females. This is normal since the weight dimorphism is in favour of the cock, which are however preferred by consumers. Day old local chicks are generally not sold by local farmers, though could be ordered from some farmers owing incubators.

Usages of local chicken eggs

Figure 5 shows the main usages of local chicken eggs in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.

Figure 5. Main usages of local chicken eggs in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

About 71% of the eggs were destined to reproduction while a small percentage is used for consumption (12.8%) and sale (16%).

Annual financial contribution of local chickens to the household’s economy

Figure 6 shows the financial contribution made by the local chicken farming to the household economy in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.

Figure 6. Yearly financial contribution of local chicken production to the household’s economy in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.

The financial contribution of local chickens farming to the household ranged from around 50 000 FCFA to over 100 000 FCFA. This increase in revenue could be a stimulus to the extensive system currently practiced, since some farmers mentioned to have realized a profit without real investment/input on the animals.

Reasons for sale of the local chicken

Table 10 shows the main reasons why farmers from the Western Highlands of Cameroon sold chickens.

The main reasons for selling local chickens in order of importance were regular contribution to collective saving associations (89.1%) and diseases (87.8%), education of children through the purchase of school supplies (37.8%) and travels (19.9%). The local chicken helps solve specific needs of the farmers that should be taken into account to improve their livelihoods.

Challenges and prospects for raising local in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

Table 11 presents challenges identified by local chicken farmers in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.

The four top challenges faced by local chicken farmers in the Western Highlands of Cameroon are respectively, Disease, predation, financial and technical assistance and feeding of animals. However, housing and chick supplies are reported as major issues in 31 to 34% of the farmers.

Despite these challenges, almost all the farmers have perspectives with regards to their activity and expressed some domains of preferences in which they seek for support, as illustrated by figure 7.

Figure 7. Perspectives in local chicken farming in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

Among the needs expressed by farmers, good quality feed, financial assistance for acquisition of equipment, housing for the local chickens, and improved genotypes are the top priorities.

Discussion

According to the divisions of labor, women take care of livestock of smaller sizes while men take care of cattle and small ruminants. However, men entrust their animals to their wives or children. Similar results were described by Haoua (2010) in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Cameroon and Fotsa et al (2007) in the forest zone of Cameroon. As compared to young farmers, elders in the current study were conservatives and reluctant to change, as also mentioned by Fotsa (2008).

Thus, beyond its nutritional, financial and socio-cultural contributions, local chicken is a means of consolidation of family and friendships through gift. This was reported earlier by Haoua (2010) in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Cameroon and by Bembide (2012) in Central African Republic. longest experience in this activity is due to the fact that local chicken is mainly reared in a free range system and stimulates a real enthusiasm among the population through its multiple advantages (nutritional, financial, and socio-cultural or magico-religeous by elders who use local chicken in many sacrifices). Literacy of farmers is a major asset for the adoption and dissemination of new production techniques and farm management of local chickens and is a major asset for the integration of farmers in the local chicken value chain development projects. The results on the structure of livestock are consistent with those of Fotsa et al. (2008) and Bembide (2012). Small ruminants are solicited as much as the local chickens for ritual ceremonies (sacrifices), religious (feast of Tabaski) and socio-cultural (dowry, baptisms) in the area of study, which justifies their strong association to local chickens. The result on the farming system are similar those of previous studies by Missohou et al (1998), Fotsa and Pone (2001), Haoua (2010) and (Bembide 2012).

The number of incubation is consistent with that of the studies by Pone (2001) and of Fotsa (2008), while Buldgen et al (1992) recorded up to 5 broods in Senegal. The variations in the results may be explained by the genotypes and rearing conditions prevailing in the different countries (food and health).

The mortality rate in chicks in this study is close to that observed by Fotsa et al. (2008) (57.4%) in the Eastern region of Cameroon. Previous studies reported similar causes of mortalities (Agbede et al 1995; Bessadok et al 2003, Akouango et al 2004, Bembide 2012). The causes of this high mortality rate could be the farming system that exposes chicks to predation by hawks, civet cats, cats, infectious diseases and crushing by cars, etc. The use of conventional veterinary therapy is limited by high costs, lack of conservation measures, absence of organization of farmers, remoteness of veterinary extension services and frequent unavailability of veterinary products.

The current results on the onset of diseases are consistent with those of Agbede et al (1995), Fotsa (2008) and Haoua (2010). The same disease symptoms have been reported by Fotsa et al. (2008) in the Eastern Region of Cameroon but with different frequencies. Findings on the prices of chickens in the western highlands of Cameroon and close to those mentioned by Gondwe et al (2005) in Malawi.

Conclusion

• The local chicken farming is practiced mainly by women aged 30 to 50 years, Local chickens were raised mainly for consumption, sale, gift and savings. The proportion of educated farmers is high and is a major asset although the majority of farmers have never received training in poultry.
  
  
• The annual financial contribution of the local chicken to household income ranges from less than 50,000 to more than 100,000 FCFA. Farmers do not master the farming techniques and lack adequate formal training, and that skills deficiency favors high mortality in chicks.
  
  
• The major difficulties such as lack of adequate housing of efficient animal material, disease, predation, theft and lack of organization of farmers limit considerably the activity, but the resulting income stimulates the local chicken farmers to continue the activity pending better conditions.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by funds from the EMBRAPA – Brazil, provided for the execution of the ID 207 Africa Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace project. The authors are grateful to the Chiefs, Quarter heads and farmers of Bangourain, Koutaba and Fumban for their cooperation during the survey.

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Received 31 May 2015; Accepted 29 February 2016; Published 1 March 2016

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