Improvement of village chicken production in a mixed (chicken-ram) farming system in Burkina Faso

Keywords:Village chickens, sheep, production system, feeding, fattening, integration,Burkina Faso.Animal production in general and chickens and small ruminants in particular play importantsoci-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 inBurkina Fasoin particular. Unfortunately 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 survey 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 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 studied 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 diet 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 allowed 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 ofBurkina 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 resources. IPS can be used for poverty alleviation in developing countries in general and inBurkina Fasoin particular.