Characterization of poultry production and management systems in the communal areas of Namibia

Abstract

A survey was conducted on 485 respondents from eight regions of Namibia to characterize their poultry
production systems. The overall mean proportions of literacy level were, secondary (33.6%), illiterate (31.5%),
primary (27.3%), unspecified (4.0%) and tertiary (2.9%). The estimated chicken population in the whole study
area covering 347 510 km2 was about 1.84 million and the estimated chicken density was 14.1 chickens/ km2
.
Overall, 76.1% of the interviewed households owned chickens with an overall mean of 20 chickens/household.
Overall, 20.4% of the chickens were young females, 23.8% adult females, 14.2% young males, 9.7% adult males
and 31.9% chicks. Overall, an average of 11 eggs/hen/clutch were laid with 74.3% mean hatchability. These
hatched chicks had an average of 56% survival after four weeks. Overall, 33.5% of the chickens were lost due to
disease, 27.1% consumed within households, 21.8% killed by predators, 7.9% sold, 6.5% stolen, 2% due to
starvation and 1.3% as a result of traumatic injuries. Overall, 60.2% of the sick chickens were treated with local
medicinal herbs, 14.3% slaughtered, 3.7% treated by conventional veterinary medicine, whilst 9.5% were
vaccinated and 6.2% were treated by local veterinarians. Overall, 53.3% of the households used no housing for
chickens, 9.8% used wire mesh housing, 7.0% used corrugated metal sheet housing and 4.9% used thatched
brick and mud housing. Overall, 77.7% of the chickens were fed on maize or millet grain, 38.1% on free range
forages, 12.5% on household leftovers and 4.1% on commercial feed. In conclusion, based on the survey,
chickens in these study areas were reared extensively on raw grains with most owners using traditional
methods to treat sick birds and failing to house their flocks to result in high losses to diseases and predators.
This study indicated that the education of Namibian communal farmers to improve poultry husbandry would
reduce losses and possibly increase profitability of communal poultry enterprise.