Village poultry activities in development videos Author: Arrey Mbongaya Ivo Summary: This paper highlights videos on village poultry farming systems. It argues for better use of village poultry in improving diets, incomes and access to proteins among the vulnerable and poor. It demonstrates that videos on village poultry are learning devices that can be weapons to replicate sustainable projects in targeted groups.

1. Village poultry activities in development videos
Author: Arrey Mbongaya Ivo
Date: 20/05/2010
©2010 African Centre for Community and Development. All rights
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Email: oldboyarret@yahoo.com
ivo@africancentreforcommunity.com
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2. Summary:
This paper highlights videos on village poultry farming systems. It argues for better use of
village poultry in improving diets, incomes and access to proteins among the vulnerable and
poor. It demonstrates that videos on village poultry are learning devices that can be
weapons to replicate sustainable projects in targeted groups.
This paper seeks to highlight village poultry activities in development videos. It argues
that this phenomenon pertains to almost all cultures and hence creates a platform for
knowledge exchange between sustainable systems and diminishing systems. Village
Poultry farming is practiced in many communities in Asia,
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W8y-36De30 ), America and Africa. It is a source
of income and protein to many poor villagers in countries like China, India, Cameroon,
Nigeria, South Africa etc. Despite its widespread use, it faces problems like:
• High exposure to diseases aggravated by a lack of veterinary services. Most rural
Communities do not have health Centres for their human populations and
veterinary units in rural areas are considered a luxury or an untargeted device by
many developing countries concentrating to satisfy population needs in crowded
urban Centres.
• More so, the distance that village poultry farmers will have to cover to pay for
veterinary services and the distance that veterinary groups even goodwill based
initiatives will have to go to curb disease prevalence in communities, deters new
users into the trade and frustrates old users from continuing.
• More so, poultry farmed extensively and semi-extensively in many systems is
open to conflicts over trespass of poultry on land, property etc and to thefts of

3. birds by rogue keepers and households. This also acts as a deterrent to keeping
fowls as farmers fear that specialized units poised to deprive them of selling their
poultry on maturing are on the increase. With increase human populations and
urbanization, land for farming village poultry has shrunk over time.
• Also the treatment of strays is considered harsh by many communities. Strays are
shot with stones or battered with sticks and end up dying or maimed. Maimed
poultry cannot compete effectively for food and crossing partners hence reducing
their values to farmers.
However, village poultry can not be allowed to shrink because it offers many
opportunities for both rural and urban centres. Some opportunities include:
• Firstly farmers can make money out of selling fowls and eggs. This money is
useful to their other needs like educating their children and providing health care
for themselves and other family members. This is vital as the health sector in
developing countries is reportedly expensive and unaffordable to many
vulnerable sub-populations.
• More so farmers use village poultry for food in their families. Increasing use will
step protein consumption in countries that find farming poultry with concentrates
as expensive and contrary to their cultural and dietary preferences.
• More over, village poultry is a tested practice for centuries now hence
experiences from various systems offer good grounds for maximum utilization of
the device in guaranteeing food security, curbing poverty, improving rural
incomes and employment as well as for diversifying village incomes especially in
communities greatly hit by over-exploitation of forest animals.

4. • More so village poultry is considered very palatable by communities in Africa
and beyond. It is used during invocations and ancestral rites. It is used during
marriage ceremonies. It is an intrinsic aspect of many cultures and can be a
weapon to step up protein consumptions in informal economies in urban centres
that generally look out to village or rural communities for food increasingly.
• The Newcastle disease known to affect poultry in many African countries can be
contained with effective and available drugs hence reducing risks of keeping
birds (http://community.eldis.org/.59c1d9eb ). This augurs well for village
poultry keepers.
Interesting development videos that depict use and possibilities of village poultry are
many. Here we shall generally show links to videos that argue for the widespread use of
village poultry and common ways of taking care of the birds. Some of the videos touch
themes such as:
• Feeding and Putting Chickens away in Chang Mai Jungle
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W8y-36De30). This video demonstrates
without commentaries though, that village poultry can reach high populations.
• For starters it is worth differentiating hens and roosters. This will impact on how
to mix and cross birds in the future.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlTQYxIOrlE&feature=channel).
• The joy of keeping chickens which is also founded on the premise that they are
interesting and entertaining birds to watch while strategizing for livelihoods
outcomes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ztnxG6PGlU&feature=related).

5. • How Mama Lucy Kamptoni, a former poultry farmer in Arusha, Tanzania used
her income to start a primary school in her village that now serves over 400
children. The school now tops its district on national exams.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXLnnPMvGQU ).
• How village poultry can be practiced as Permaculture poultry that facilitates the
conservation of threatened species and pure breeds.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mel0mmvHP9k&feature=PlayList&p=BBFF
68557B4257CA&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=13 )
• How chicken waste can be recycled for garden fertilizers and more. This could be
useful in Africa as manure from chicken can be used to grow vegetables that are
invaluable to local dietary preferences. Vegetables can better access to vitamins in
communities (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1_oE40rczw&feature=related)
• The next video link concentrates on harvesting rain water and using a chicken
tractor (not a tractor, tiller, or plow) for gardening. The photos contained are
experiments by a "new" permaculturist in between DeRidder and Sugartown
Louisiana (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3cjT2GFfWs&feature=related ).
• Another video shows how chickens are fed on a basic material like tin
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6dshqhTMRM&feature=related ). Many
feeding materials have also been noted to be crafted from wood or even used pots
and pans. This argues for the point that village poultry can easily be adapted with
the needs of peoples.
• Also using local incubation techniques help hatch eggs abandoned by dead hens
or hens with no maternal instincts. The process of eggs hatching is interesting in it

6. self (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRnUsQjgPxc&feature=related,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiQIQD8hu2Y&NR=1 ).
Therefore village poultry farming is a universally acclaimed livelihoods tool. Exploiting
and replicating best practices among needy populations will better:
• Research and knowledge sharing among interested stakeholders and new users
especially in developing poor countries. More users will reduce dependency on
wildlife and curb hunger, malnutrition and deaths in certain communities. It will
improve resilience to diseases like HIH/AIDS, malaria etc A good example of
how village poultry practices are being supported with improved access to
veterinary services is the Village Poultry Project for Togo
(http://www.villagepoultry.org/Projectdescription.htm ). This project has helped
poultry farmers in over 104 villages (about 135,000 people or 5 - 10 % of the
Togolese who are unable to obtain veterinary services due to their remote
location) since January 2000.
• More access to information on growing village poultry will better employment in
the sector and impact on the number of people who will have access to chickens
and chicken related products like eggs and chicken waste vital for garden manure
and other uses.
• More so, sharing of information and exchanges will help in monitoring markets
and making an effective inventory of widely used birds and threatened species.
This information is vital in sustaining the sector both in countries and
internationally.

7. This paper has thus demonstrated that village poultry in development videos cover a wide
range of topics including how to recycle chicken waste, hatch chickens, Permaculture
poultry etc that are vital to keeping chickens both as an entertaining device or a
livelihoods tool. It has demonstrated that, there are several tested practices on village
poultry worldwide hence calling for a more vigorous way of sharing information and
research between developed and developing economies and stakeholders. Village poultry
can be based on cheap available materials hence can accommodate people with little start
up budgets. Also village poultry in development videos show that there are effective
entrepreneurial approaches to growing chickens that can be environmentally friendly and
sustainable. The paper has demonstrated that village poultry farming is a livelihoods wire
of millions worldwide.
Bibliography
Arrey M.I., (2009) Why Village Poultry is a necessary route for Cameroon
http://community.eldis.org/.59c1d9eb
Bell G., Fotzo T.M., Amara A. and Agbede G., (1995) A field trial of the heat resistant V4
vaccine against Newcastle disease by eye-drop inoculation in village poultry in Cameroon
Preventive Veterinary Medicine Volume 25, Issue 1, November 1995, Pages 19-25

8. DessieT. and Ogle B., (2001) Village Poultry Production Systems in the Central Highlands
of Ethiopia Vol. 33, Number 6/ December 2001 pp. 521-537 Tropical Animal Health and
Production DOI 10.1023/A:1012740832558
Author:
Arrey Mbongaya Ivo
Director of African Centre for Community and Development
http://youtube.com/user/AfricanCentreforCom
http://www.africancentreforcommunity.com
http://community.eldis.org/falcazo
Pictures of Village Poultry
©2010 African Centre for Community and Development. All rights
reserved.