Assessment of factors affecting the contribution of local poultry chickens to poverty alleviation in Moyo sub-county, Moyo district.

Abstract

The study investigated the factors affecting the performance of local poultry chickens in poverty alleviation in Moyo district Moyo sub-County. The specific objectives of the study were; 1) to evaluate the socio-economic characteristics of local chicken producing households in Moyo sub- county Moyo district, 2) to assess the production and marketing characteristics of local chicken enterprise in Moyo sub-county Moyo district, 3) to evaluate the impact of extension service delivery to farmers in local chicken production enterprise in the sub county and, 4) to access the contribution of local chicken enterprise to livelihood (poverty alleviation) of agricultural households in Moyo sub-county Moyo district. The study applied quantitative data collection methods and analysis. Data were collected from 83 farmers using questionnaires. Results revealed that On the Socio-economic characteristics of local chicken producing households in Moyo sub- county Moyo district are; women were major local chicken farmers involved in the keeping of local chicken 55%m majority of the households had kept chicken for 5-10 years 55% of the women rearing local chicken were within the age of 26-41 years. For Production and marketing characteristics of local chicken, enterprise results revealed that majority (48%) of the households were practicing free-range system, feeding strategy was scavenging 53%, 52% of the farmers spend shs 50,000-100,000 per month of feed supplementation but, Majority marketed their poultry in upcountry towns 37%, poultry resided in people’s houses and 57% reported an irregular schedule of vaccination of poultry but (Fallou, 2016) acknowledged a regular. Housing (P=0.045), Diseases (P=0.029), market (P=0.029), and Feeds (P=0.018) significantly affect the contribution of poultry to poverty alleviation which agrees. For the impact of extension service delivery to farmers in local chicken production enterprises in the sub-county district, results indicated that there is a strong relationship between extension services and income from poultry (P=0.000) at 95% CI. Finally,on the Contribution of local chicken enterprise to livelihood (poverty alleviation) of agricultural households in Moyo sub-county Moyo district results revealed that chicken is a primary source of income (51.8%) to most households. The study concluded that local chicken production is mostly done by women and it is affected by various factors. The study recommended that extension services such as pieces training, feeds, and vaccines should be provided since most farmers reported their absence in the study area, and these were found to significantly affect poultry contribution to poverty alleviation