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Strategies for promoting sustainable use and conservation of indigenous chicken breeds in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from low-income countries [version 4; peer review: 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]

Authors :
Christopher .M Kanyama
Amy .F Moss
Tamsyn .M Crowley
Author Affiliations :
<relatesTo>1</relatesTo>School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia<br /><relatesTo>2</relatesTo>Poultry Hub Australia, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia<br /><relatesTo>3</relatesTo>School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, 3217, Australia
Source :
F1000Research. 11:251
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
London, UK: F1000 Research Limited, 2023.

Abstract

This review explores innovative and sustainable strategies for the utilisation and conservation of indigenous chickens (IC) (Gallus domesticus) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), drawing lessons from selected low-income countries. Small-scale farmers (SSF) have kept IC for hundreds of years to meet their households' nutritional needs, incomes, and social-cultural and religious uses. The commitment exhibited by SSF to keeping IC has made them the significant custodians of essential animal genetic resources for food and agriculture (AnGR) in most low-income countries. Between 1991 and 2012, Zambia's private breeders invested over US$95 million in the commercial poultry sector, resulting in over a 100% increase in the annual production of day-old chicks to 65 million. However, high production costs and low market access hindered rural farmers' full participation, hence their continued dependence on IC breeds. The erosion of AnGR poses the biggest threat to livelihoods in SSA. The Food and Agriculture Organisation, an international body of the United Nations, highlighted that over 3.5% (60) of chicken breeds were extinct, 21.3% (368) were at risk of extinction, and nearly 63% (1089) were under unknown risk status. The report stated that 12.3% of the known chicken breeds were not at risk. Poultry diseases, lack of sustainable conservation strategies and poor use have significantly contributed to these losses. In 2012, 60% of IC were reportedly diseased in parts of SSA. The continued loss of IC-AnGR may negatively impact rural livelihoods, and future research and breeding programs in poultry may suffer. This paper reviews the IC sector in parts of SSA, the socioeconomic, cultural and religious roles of IC and lessons on researcher community-stakeholder strategies from selected low-income countries. The paper concludes and outlines some recommendations for future research.

Details

ISSN :
20461402
Volume :
11
Database :
F1000Research
Journal :
F1000Research
Notes :
Revised Amendments from Version 3 Following the reviewer’s suggestions and guidance, we made changes to version 3 to improve the article's structure, content, and general organization. 1. The title for version 4 remained unchanged from the previous version and read, “Strategies for promoting sustainable use and conservation of indigenous chicken breeds in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from low-income countries”. 2. We made a few changes and corrected some statistics on the worldwide risk status of chicken breeds in the abstract and the paper’s main body. Some notable changes were; 63% (1089) replaced 67% as breeds of unknown risk status, and 21.3% (368) replaced 33% for breeds classified as at risk of extinction. Further, we included 12.3% of chicken breeds not at risk of extinction and 3.5% (60) extinct breeds. 3. We also added a few pieces of information and data and related references in selected paragraphs to justify some of the arguments and suggestions in the paper. 4. The authors shifted some paragraphs to improve the sequence, logic and flow of ideas. 5. We revised a few subtitles of the article to reflect the content of each section in the paper., , [version 4; peer review: 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsfor.10.12688.f1000research.75478.4
Document Type :
review
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.75478.4