Poultry health constraints in smallholder village poultry systems in Northern Ghana and Central Tanzania

Emily Awuor Ouma; Clovice Kankya; Michel Dione; Terra Kelly; Dolapo Enahoro; Gaspar Chiwanga; Yakubu Abukari; Peter Msoffe; Boniface Baboreka Kayang; Huaijun Zhou

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1159331

Poultry health constraints in smallholder village poultry systems in Northern Ghana and Central Tanzania

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jul 3:10:1159331. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1159331. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Emily Awuor Ouma^{1

2}, Clovice Kankya³, Michel Dione¹, Terra Kelly^{2

4}, Dolapo Enahoro^{1

2}, Gaspar Chiwanga^{2

5}, Yakubu Abukari⁶, Peter Msoffe^{2

7}, Boniface Baboreka Kayang^{2

8}, Huaijun Zhou^{2

9}

Affiliations

¹ International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.
² Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.
³ Department of Biosecurity, Ecosystems and Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
⁴ One Health Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.
⁵ Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency, South Zone, Mtwara, Tanzania.
⁶ Regional Department of Agriculture, Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Tamale, Ghana.
⁷ Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
⁸ Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
⁹ Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Smallholder poultry production is a major contributor to food security and rural livelihoods in low-and middle-income countries. However, infectious diseases limit improvements to smallholder poultry production and performance of the sector in general. Infectious diseases of poultry, especially viral diseases, have major impacts on the health and productivity of flocks and account for significant morbidities and mortalities of birds each year.

Methods: This study utilized participatory epidemiology approaches to better understand the poultry health constraints and challenges faced by smallholder poultry producers in village poultry systems in Northern Ghana and Central Tanzania.

Results: The results show dominance of small-scale semi-intensive and extensive scavenging poultry production systems in the study areas. Newcastle disease ranked as the highest cause of morbidity and mortality in chickens in the two countries. The disease occurred mainly during the months coinciding with the dry season in both countries. Other health challenges among poultry flocks included worm infestation, fowl pox, coryza, and coccidiosis. Producers, especially in rural locations, had poor access to veterinary services and critical inputs necessary for poultry production. In the Northern region of Ghana, producers lacked definitive diagnoses for sick poultry due to a shortage of veterinary personnel and diagnostic laboratories.

Discussion: These challenges point to the need for increased investment in poultry disease control and prevention programs, particularly in rural areas. Interventions focused on expansion of veterinary and agricultural extension services and diagnostic laboratory capacity in rural areas and increased gender-sensitive training to enhance smallholder knowledge in poultry husbandry and disease prevention measures will support the development of the smallholder village poultry systems. Tapping into the diverse genetic reservoir of local chicken ecotypes with enhanced resistance to Newcastle disease through genomic selection, coupled with models for enhancing ND vaccination supply and use in the rural areas are potential future avenues for addressing ND constraints to production.

Keywords: Ghana; Newcastle disease; Tanzania; local chicken ecotypes; participatory epidemiology; village poultry systems.