Characterization of poultry production and marketing systems in kerssa woreda, jimma zone, south west Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was conducted to characterize poultry production and marketing systems in Kerssa Woreda of Jimma Zone, South West Ethiopia. Six Kebeles of the Woreda were selected using multistage random sampling from which, 30 Households (HHs) were randomly selected. A questionnaire survey was conducted on these selected 180 HHs pertaining population characteristics, management, marketing, and productivity of the indigenous chickens integrated with participatory rural appraisal. Moreover, 30 HHs who had adopt hay-box brooder and exotic chickens were purposively selected to study the performance of hay box and exotic chickens. The data collected were subjected to descriptive and analysis of variance. The results obtained showed that the mean flock size of the respondents was 8.37chickens/HH. The majority (> 80-85%) of the respondents indicated that the indigenous chicken production system of Kerssa Woreda is characterized by scavenging with supplementary feeding, natural incubation and brooding, lack of separate poultry house, periodic disease outbreak and open marketing system of eggs and live chickens. About 70 % of the respondents reported that predation is the major constraint of chicken production in the area. The mean annual egg production/hen of the Woreda was estimated to be 56.67±1.04. The mean annual egg production of the indigenous chickens of Gello kebele (67 eggs/hen) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the others. The lowest (48.86 egg/hen) was recorded in Kitimbile Kebele. The mean hatchability and chick mortality to an age of 8 weeks of the Woreda was 67.08 % and 50.15% respectively with no significant difference (P>0.05) between the Kebeles. The farmers who adopted exotic chickens were successful in raising layer type day old chicks with the use of hay-box brooder as measured by chick survival (60-89%), rate of sexual maturity (5.53 months) and egg production (159.66 egg/hen/year). The exotic chickens adopted performed fairly good under the Kerssa local conditions. The current market price of eggs (Birr 1.5/egg) and adult live chickens (Birr 71.16/head) is also rewarding. Therefore the provision poultry input and opportunity of credit scheme seems to be the future direction for efficient poultry production in the Kerssa Woreda.