African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6894

Article in Press

Production System of Indigenous Chicken in Awi Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia.

Birhanu Ayana,Taye Mengistie

  •  Received: 11 December 2023
  •  Accepted: 19 July 2024
The objective of this study was to assess the production system of indigenous chicken in three districts of the Awi-zone Amhara Region. A total of 9 peasant associations from three districts were purposively selected for the study. A total of 180 chicken owners were selected using simple random sampling technique for interviewing using semi-structured questionnaire. About 43.2%, 16.6%, 11.2% and 6.5% of the respondents housing system for their chickens were perch in the main house, perch in the other animal house, perch in the kitchen and perch in the veranda, respectively. About 22.5% of the respondents keep their chicken in separate houses. The overall 92.2% of the respondents provide supplementary feed for their chickens, while the remaining 7.8% of the respondents do not provide supplementary feed. About 67.2 % of the respondents provide water for their chickens free of access. The major challenges of chicken production in the study area were disease (55%), predator (27.2%), and feed shortage (17.8%). The current study has revealed that scavenging/free-ranging was the main production system in all agroecology of the study area. Therefore, bringing some awareness to farmers about knowledge of supplementary feeding, housing, disease and predator control is important.

Keywords: Agroecology, Indigenous chicken, and Production system.