article · Journal of Applied Animal Research
Indigenous chickens make up most of Africa's poultry population and are valued for their distinct meat taste and texture. Traditional free-range and backyard farming systems struggle to meet the growing population's protein demands. While crossbreeding local hens with improved roosters has been attempted, it diminishes offspring disease resistance and thermotolerance in tropical environments. Preserving these indigenous breeds is critical. Improving their productivity requires sustainable, cost-effective management programmes focusing on improved housing, feeding, and bird care. Researchers need to identify and characterise diverse local chicken ecotypes to determine their specific nutritional requirements and production capabilities. Practical strategies include utilising locally available feed resources, administering vaccines, integrating indigenous medicine, and delivering farmer training to support resilient flock management.
Rapid population growth across Africa is driving a need for accessible protein sources. Replacing hardy local chickens with exotic crosses can reduce flock survival under harsh climate and disease pressures. Supporting farmers with low-cost feeding, healthcare, and husbandry techniques protects valuable local genetic resources while helping rural poultry systems sustainably increase meat and egg yields.
The findings point toward practical applications in smallholder poultry farming, focusing on feed formulations using local ingredients, tailored vaccination programmes, and farmer training modules. The primary users are small-scale poultry keepers, extension services, and agricultural development organisations. Given the emphasis on reviewing existing database evidence and calling for further breed characterisation, these interventions remain at an early strategic stage rather than presenting immediate, market-ready products.
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The poultry population in Africa is mostly composed of local or indigenous chickens appreciated for the unique taste and texture of their meat. However, with the ever-increasing population growth, the free-range or backyard poultry farming system is no longer adapted to supply people with protein requirements. Crossbreeding local hens with an improved rooster weakens the thermotolerance and disease resistance of the offspring in African areas. In this context, the available breeds need to be preserved. The improvement of their productivity should be actualized through the implementation of a sustainable production programme that is simple and less expensive for the farmer, taking into account: feeding, habitat and chicken care. Scientific research should invest more time on the identification and characterization of all available breeds or chicken ecotypes allowing us to know production performances and their nutritional needs. Feeding with locally available resources, vaccination and use of indigenous medicine requiring training of farmers are essential perspectives. This paper focused on the productivity and resilience of indigenous chicken ecotypes in various African tropical environments and some essential factors to improve the birds. For this, a critical analysis was made based on the available data on the birds from research databases.
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DOI: 10.1080/09712119.2023.2228374
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