NUTRITIONAL AND LIVELYHOOD SECURITY OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS THROUGH BACKYARD POULTRY REARING IN ANDHRA PRADESH
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2012-02
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SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA
Abstract
ABSTRACT :
1. In India poultry farming under backyard system is as old as its civilization. Randhawa (1946) reported that number of terracotta have been discovered from Mohenzo-daro and Harappa, which indicated that, the people domesticated number of birds and the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus) originated in India and its ancestor's, the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) is still found in Northern India from Kashmir to Assam and in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Visakhapatnam and parts of Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He also reported that the Indus valley people kept the fowl only for sports, and that its breeding for flesh occurred later. 2.Poultry farming became popular because of it is possible in widely different agro-climatic environment (National Commission on Agriculture 1976), as the Rural fowl possesses marked physiological adaptability, requirement of small space, low capital investment, quick return from outlay and well distributed turn over throughout the year make poultry farming remunerative in both rural and urban areas. The rearing of poultry provides an excellent opportunity for gainful employment to idle or unemployed members of rural communities. Additionally, chicken meat consumption is a significant protein source which helps to cover the nutritional needs of the rural population.
3.Backyard poultry farming (BYPF) by and large is a low input or no input venture and is characterized by indigenous night shelter (Berte 1987, Aklobessi 1990, Nkodia 1990, Singh and Johari 1990, Upindi 1990, Zoungrana and Slenders 1992, Dana 1998, Saha 2003), scavenging system (Kabatange and Katule 1989, Kassambara 1989, Musharaf 1989, Andrews 1990, Houadfi 1990, Lul 1990, Mbugua 1990, Okot 1990, Raveloson 1990), with little supplementary feeding (Singh and Johari 1990, Dipeolu et al 1996, Rangnekar and Rangnekar 1996, Dana 1998, Saha 2003), natural hatching of chicks (Singh and Pani 1986, Van Veluw 1987, Saha 2003), poor productivity of birds (AACMC 1984, Rao and Thomas 1984, Balaraman and Kaul 1985, Singh and Pani 1986, Berte 1987, Okada et al 1987, Musharaf 1989, Smith 1990, Abebe 1992, Agbede et al 1995, Rashid et al 1995), local marketing (Rehman 1995, Dana 1998, Saha 2003) and no health care practice (Dana 1998, Saha 2003). 4.Recently, the traditional poultry farming in villages, which was the primary source of animal protein, and supplementary income for more than 50 percent of the population of this country, has suffered in the wake of commercialization Singh(2000). One must remember that the cheapest egg and poultry is one which is produced in the backyard or semi-scavenging system. Consequently, due to the changing rural scenario BYPF has taken a back seat and unless we lay down a sound strategy, it would be impossible to revive this age old practice which is an important tool for nutritional security. Therefore, an appropriate strategy is necessary in BYPF for hitting two birds with one stone. Firstly, this would help alleviate the nutritional status of the rural people and secondly, we could have our stress-free, harmful residue free birds. 5.Every country is unique in itself, and so is the case of India. Extension principle has always highlighted the fact that every region and community is different from others. Lack of understanding of village chicken production system makes it difficult to design and implement poultry based development programme that benefit rural people (Gueye 1997, Pedersen 2002). Therefore, the strategy for rural Indian has to be worked out critically which can be modified and improved to fit the different regions of our country.
6.The other factor for decline in the interst of the backyard poultry rearing inrural areas because of commercial poultry in meat and egg production.So commercial poultry gain upper hand over rural poultry.beacuase of this commercial poultry gained momentum is one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India today. While the production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5–2% per annum that of eggs and broilers has been rising at a rate of 6–10% per annum. National annual production is 45 billion eggs and 1.6 billion broilers. The percentage of native birds in the total poultry population has dropped from 50% about 30 years ago to about 10% now (Rangnekar and Rangnekar, 1999). Nevertheless, the meat and eggs of backyard chickens is highly valued than that of commercially produced meat or eggs. with prices being 50–100% higher, because their taste and texture are considered superior. They are equivalent of ‘organic’ egg or chicken in western and developed countries, and have a lower fat content than commercially produced eggs and birds. Further, backyard poultry production forms the basis for transforming the rural poultry sector from subsistence to a more economically productive base. Estimates of income elasticity for meat and eggs strongly suggest that consumption of these products can be expected to continue to grow strongly. However, per capita consumption of eggs in rural areas is less than half that in urban areas (Mehta et al., 2003). Trends in the poultry sector provide a striking example of how sector growth does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with rural sector and poverty reduction. Backyard poultry, which is based almost entirely on native birds, has been by-passed by the poultry revolution, with virtually all the growth occurring in the large-scale intensive sub-sector. Also, increased backyard poultry production would result in a positive impact on household food security both in increased dietary intake and in income generation. Hence, increasing meat and egg production from backyard poultry has been a major concern of Government of India (GOI) for many years. The GOI has supported various programmes to improve backyard poultry production. This has resulted in release of some important backyard poultry varieties viz., Vanaraja, Gramapriya, Giriraja, Krishna-J, etc., for the benefit of rural farmers’ economic upliftment, food security and gender empowerment. In the present study an effort was made to study the Nutritional and livelihood security of rural households through backyard poultry rearing in Andhra Pradesh.
1.1. NON DESCRIPTIVE BIRDS
1.Poultry farming is possible in widely different agro-climatic environment (National Commission on Agriculture 1976), as the fowl possesses marked physiological adaptability. Requirement of small space, low capital investment, quick return from outlay and well distributed turn over throughout the year make poultry farming remunerative in both rural and urban areas. The rearing of poultry provides an excellent opportunity for gainful employment to idle or unemployed members of rural communities. Additionally, chicken meat consumption is a significant protein source which helps to cover the nutritional needs of the rural population.
2. Backyard poultry farming (BYPF) by and large is a low input or no input venture and is characterized by indigenous night shelter (Berte 1987, Aklobessi 1990, Nkodia 1990, Singh and Johari 1990, Upindi 1990, Zoungrana and Slenders 1992, Dana 1998, Saha 2003), scavenging system (Kabatange and Katule 1989, Kassambara 1989, Musharaf 1989, Andrews 1990, Houadfi 1990, Lul 1990, Mbugua 1990, Okot 1990, Raveloson 1990), with little supplementary feeding (Singh and Johari 1990, Dipeolu et al 1996, Rangnekar and Rangnekar 1996, Dana 1998, Saha 2003), natural hatching of chicks (Singh and Pani 1986, Van Veluw 1987, Saha 2003), poor productivity of birds (AACMC 1984, Rao and Thomas 1984, Balaraman and Kaul 1985, Singh and Pani 1986, Berte 1987, Okada et al 1987, Musharaf 1989, Smith 1990, Abebe 1992, Agbede et al 1995, Rashid et al 1995), local marketing (Rehman 1995, Dana 1998, Saha 2003) and no health care practice (Dana 1998, Saha 2003).
3. Recently, the traditional poultry farming in villages, which was the primary source of animal protein, and supplementary income for more than 50 percent of the population of this country, has suffered in the wake of commercialization Singh(2000). One must remember that the cheapest egg and poultry is one which is produced in the backyard or semi-scavenging system. Consequently, due to the changing rural scenario BYPF has taken a back seat and unless we lay down a sound strategy, it would be impossible to revive this age old practice which is an important tool for nutritional security. Therefore, an appropriate strategy is necessary in BYPF for hitting two birds with one stone. Firstly, this would help alleviate the nutritional status of the rural people and secondly, we could have our stress-free, harmful residue free birds.
4. Every country is unique in itself, and so is the case of India. Extension principle has always highlighted the fact that every region and community is different from others. Lack of understanding of village chicken production system makes it difficult to design and implement poultry based development programme that benefit rural people (Gueye 1997, Pedersen 2002). Therefore, the strategy for rural Indian has to be worked out critically which can be modified and improved to fit the different regions of our country.
Mostly in the rural areas the There does not appear to be any problem in marketing of local poultry. Most of the households dispose off their produce like eggs or chickens in nearby markets, whereas, those away from the towns sell at their door steps. Although it may vary from family to family, half of the chicken raised are consumed by the owners at the time of festivals or during the visit of their guests. Poultry birds are also given as gifts in marriages and other functions and used in religious ceremony. The chickens are usually sold either for table purpose or as game birds for fighting. The fighting cocks fetch a premium rice usually 2 to 3 times higher than those which are sold for table purpose. The requirement of fighting cocks ,however, is limited and that too at festive occasions. People of costal districts have passion for rearing gaming birds which are having huge demand during the festive periods where people will make lot of money through rearing this game birds.,. Same situation more or less is encountered in other districts. Almost all the eggs produced are used for hatching and not a single one is consumed in except in summer months where hatching eggs become quickly spoiled due to early embryonic death resulting in poor hatchability.. but in some parts which are adjacent to city markets more than 50 percent of the eggs are sold. Great variation is observed among the villages for scavenging area and those with higher scavenging areas realize more money from the sale of their birds which are healthy. Predation by wild cats and other wild animals is a problem in most of the villages situated either near or within the forest area. Although no definite evidence is available about the origin of different populations/local breeds, ethnic tribal groups seem to have played a significant role for development and maintaining the uniqueness of the breeds nurtured by them for years without any introgression from outside. In some parts where the backyard poultry rears in nearer to forests and in hilly areas naturally the livestock especially backyard poultry is having high disease resistance and the outbreaks of ranikhet and fowlpox are very rare. For ethnic tribal groups and communities indigenous poultry are of special interest because
of their socio-religious use. Plumage colour and sex of the bird differ from one purpose to another .Raising of local poultry breeds in backyard is an important source of livelihood for the rural people. 63% of the owners of the backyard poultry in the agency area are Scheduled Tribes, 17%Scheduled Castes and rest 20% owned by OBCs and other communities. Small holdings containing1-3 hens per unit were found to be more efficient producer of eggs compared to those with 4 or more hens per unit. Main interest of the poultry farmers having backyard poultry is not production of eggs as returns are very low from sale of eggs. They hatch all their eggs and sale them as birds.. The major problem of the backyard poultry sector is high mortality. Average annual income from backyard poultry is Rs.2200 per house hold although the variation across.households is very large. When mortality is reduced, income per household increases.Poultry keeping in backyard gives very high return as the investment is very low. The local breeds of poultry / indigenous poultry genetic resources are held in high esteem even after 50 years of industrial poultry production because of the following reasons. 5) Local poultry breeds exhibit superior adaptability in their habitat and possess the ability to survive, produce and reproduce on low plane of nutrition and sub-optimal management. b) The inputs required are very small as they scavenge their feed requirements and are raised with little veterinary care. 6 ) They possess the ability to protect themselves from predators. 7) All the local breeds show broodiness and hatch their own chicks making the system auto generating. 8) People have a preference for eggs and meat of indigenous poultry compared to those realized from farm-bred chickens consequently eggs and meat from local breeds are sold at a premium price. 10) Cock fighting is a popular sport for the ethnic tribes and the local breeds are superior to exotic breeds in fighting.
11) Use of coloured bird for socio-religious use. Livestock output at present accounts for more than half of agricultural production in developed countries and one-third in developing countries. The growing number of urban and more affluent population in the developing world including India, most likely will demand a richer, more diverse diet with more of meat and milk products. As a result, global demand will increase from 209 million tones in 1997 to 327 million tones in 2020 for meat to a strong livestock revolution. Industrial poultry production could be fastest growing sector with an expected increase in output of about 80 per cent until 2020 due to its high rate of reproduction, superior FCR and universal production technology. The other Livestock commodities are expected to grow @ 50 percent per year during the same period. Other factors which will contribute to growth of poultry industry in India subcontinent include; increase in growth of human population. 50 geographical shifting of production centers to developing countries like China, India, Brazil and
Mexico due to stringent animal welfare measures adopted in the industrial west; improvement in poultry production technologies; policies and initiatives recently undertaken by the Government of India to promote rural backyard poultry production through venture capital fund etc. The demand for organic egg and meat is increasing over the years especially in the industrially developed Western countries even though they cost more and cut through the wallet. Small holder backyard poultry production utilizing local breeds therefore is expected to increase the profitability of this system of production, but the super markets will benefit.Smallholder backyard poultry production utilizing local breeds sooner or later is expected to come under serious competition with the commercial poultry sector and if not well planned the genetic resources of local poultry shall be lost, as it has already happened in most of the developed countries. Conservation of local poultry breeds along with improvement for traits like meat and eggs will increase competitiveness to survive in the market. The socio-religious use of local poultry breeds, superior adaptability in their habitat, ability to perform in tow input production system and the production system which is similar to organic production will he the competitive advantages of backyard system over commercial poultry production. The government, however, should extend all support to this system of production since this is a means of livelihood of poorer sections of the society and will help in food production, food security, gender equity and providing employment to women. Improvement of local breeds and their conservation for future use also should be the joint responsibility of the Government and farming community.
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