Youchahou Poutougnigni

From January to September 2010, studies were undertaken in rural, peri-urban and urban areas of the Sudano-sahelian agro-ecological zone of Cameroon to characterize the production system of indigenous chicken populations. The study was also aimed at generating information on village based indigenous chicken utilization, management practices, opportunities and challenges. Thirteen villages were investigated in the Far-north and North regions using a structured questionnaire. The study of Sudano-sahelian local chicken production system revealed that women are responsible for chicken rearing in households (72.5%), the level of education was variable, with 45.1% sampled farmers who have never gone to school, and only 3.9% having post secondary school of education. Auto-consumption of chicken was the general and major objective of chicken breeding in the area (23.5%). Goat, cattle, sheep and small birds were associated to chickens in the household by the proportions of 32.21, 28.11, 10.7...

From January to September 2010, studies were undertaken in rural, peri-urban and urban areas of the Sudano-sahelian agro-ecological zone of Cameroon to characterize the production system of indigenous chicken populations. The study was also aimed at generating information on village based indigenous chicken utilization, management practices, opportunities and challenges. Thirteen villages were investigated in the Far-north and North regions using a structured questionnaire. The study of Sudano-sahelian local chicken production system revealed that women are responsible for chicken rearing in households (72.5%), the level of education was variable, with 45.1% sampled farmers who have never gone to school, and only 3.9% having post secondary school of education. Auto-consumption of chicken was the general and major objective of chicken breeding in the area (23.5%). Goat, cattle, sheep and small birds were associated to chickens in the household by the proportions of 32.21, 28.11, 10.70, and 17.79% respectively. The majorityof farmers (76.5%) supplement their chickens and share their house (60.8%) with their animals. Health care was negligible, since no vaccination (70.6%) and no medical treatment (54.9%) was given to animals. Diseases and predators are the main challenges (15.7%) in the local chicken production system in the Sudano-sahelian agro-ecological zone of Cameroon. Majority of interviewed chicken owners showed a great interest to boost up existing village chicken production in the area. Efforts should be made to improve the production and productivity of village chicken in a sustainable way and to shift from the extensive system to semi-intensive husbandry, with emphasis on disciplinary support of services like: health, husbandry, research, extension training and credit intervention.