Boosting Village Poultry Production

Boosting village poultry production kicks Millennium Development Goals

Smallholder poultry producers in developing countries are set to benefit from the success of recent Australian Government-funded projects. Two new publications from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) officially released today, are aimed at boosting village chicken production and reducing the incidence of disease.

Improving village chicken production: a manual for field workers and trainers is a practical toolkit describing poultry husbandry techniques and biosecurity measures that can be readily implemented in developing countries using local resources.

For many smallholders, chicken production offers a source of income that can be quickly scaled up without major investment or labour input. Village chicken improvement programs have the potential to contribute to each of the Millennium Development Goals by increasing household incomes, improving family nutrition and empowering women.

Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance Bob McMullan
welcomed the publication of the reports.

"It is projects like this that show the significant impact simple ideas can have on improving the lives of the most impoverished people in the world. By simply increasing, for example, the number of eggs a hen lays in a month, these smallholders can increase their income and achieve significant improvements for their families and their communities."

Disease has however been a major constraint for many smallholders in developing countries. Newcastle disease remains a major constraint to poultry production worldwide, even now killing more birds than avian influenza. The manual draws on the research results of a number of ACIAR-funded projects on the control of Newcastle disease in village chickens using vaccines more tolerant to temperature variations than regular vaccines that require cold transport and storage.

Much of the manual's contents have been developed through the Southern Africa Newcastle Disease Control Project funded by AusAID in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. The project followed on from seven years of ACIAR-funded research on Newcastle disease control conducted by the National Institute for Veterinary Research in Mozambique and the University of Queensland.

A second publication, Village chickens, poverty alleviation and the sustainable control of Newcastle disease, complements the manual and draws together papers from an international conference held in Tanzania that gathered over 100 village poultry researchers and animal health specialists from Africa, South-East Asia, Europe and the Pacific.

ACIAR and AusAID's Newcastle disease control program is expected to have lasting, positive impacts on the livelihoods of many poor rural women and children in Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi in particular. From 5 to 9 October 2009, the African Union will be hosting a continent-wide workshop on Newcastle disease control in Mozambique where the results of ACIAR-funded research will be showcased.

The two ACIAR publications are online at www.aciar.gov.au

Media Contacts:
Sam Casey (Mr McMullan's office)
0421697660

ACIAR Public Affairs:
0408 332 374

SOURCE: AusAID