Systems of rearing chickens in the rural areas of Kavango Region

Abstract

Abstract by author:

The project aiming at finding out the importance of chickens in the household and the productivity, efficiency and shortcoming of the existing rearing systems was carried out in the rural areas of Kavango Region. A questionnaire with leading questions was used and 50 households were interviewed out of which 30 were from Kavango East and 20 from Kavango West. Based on the percentage response on the questions, chickens are mainly kept under a scavenging system since these birds are not housed and hardly fed. Chickens play a role in the provision of food (meat and egg) and services (household income generation and as sacrificial animals). Income is generated mainly through the sale of life chickens which fanners find difficult because of a lack of markets. Though rural chickens have a high productive potential, this in not reached due to annual feed shortages and diseases because farmers lack the knowledge to combat them