Assessment of marketing systems, customer preference and health management of chickens in free range and intensive poultry production systems in Minjar Shenkora District, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 in Minjar Shenkora district, Amhara region, to assess marketing, customer preference and health management of chickens kept in intensive and in free production systems. Eight out of twenty nine Kebeles were purposively selected based on their poultry production potential and level if intensification. Data was collected from randomly selected 250 poultry producers by interview using structured and semi-structured questionnaire survey, group focused discussion and observation. The production systems were, intensive (36%) and free range (64%), and 66.6% of the producers were rearing chickens for income generation. Chickens in the present study were, cross breed (48.4%), and local breed (51.6%). This study indicated that, 93.6% of the poultry producers complained that, Newcastle Castle Disease (24%), Fowl pox (40%), Gumboro (20%), Coccidiosis (8) and others (8%) as the major poultry diseases in the study area. It was revealed that, 94.4% of the poultry producers have lack of market for their products due to fasting periods and customers preference. Age, sex, color, breed and other traits of the chickens were identified as the major customers’ selection criteria. Therefore, designing disease control strategies, creating market linkage and rearing of chickens with desirable traits is very important to develop the poultry sector and improve the livelihood of the poultry producers in the study district. Keywords: Chickens; Customer preference; Free range; Intensive; Marketing; Minjar Shenkora district