Strategies of enhancing rural livelihoods and promoting sustainable use and conservation of indigenous chicken breeds in Zambia

This review explores innovative and sustainable strategies for conservation and use of village or indigenous chickens (IC) (Gallus domesticus) in Zambia and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Small scale farmers (SSF) have kept IC for hundreds of years to meet their households’ nutritional needs, incomes, social-cultural and religious uses among others. The commitment exhibited by SSF in keeping IC has made them the major custodians of essential animal genetic resources in low-income regions. Between 1991 and 2012, private breeders invested over US$95 million in Zambia’s commercial poultry sector resulting in over 100% increase in annual production of day-old chicks to 65 million. However, high production cost and low market access hindered the participation of SSF hence their continued dependence on IC. Unfortunately, the future of IC genetic resources is threatened due to the rapid loss and erosion of IC breeds. In the 2015 biodiversity status report, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, an international body of the United Nation highlighted that over 3.5% of IC breeds were extinct, nearly 33% were at high risk and over 67% were of unknown status. Poultry diseases, lack of sustainable conservation strategies and poor use among others have significantly contributed to these losses. For example, in 2012, 60% of IC were diseased in parts of SSA including Zambia. If these challenges are not mitigated, the loss of IC genetic resources and the adverse impact on rural communities are inevitable. Further, future research and breeding programs on commercial chickens may also be limited as a result of erosion of IC genetic resources. Therefore, this paper reviews and contributes to previous studies that demonstrated how researcher-community-stakeholder engagements potentially enhanced sustainability and the adoption of innovative ideas including the potential to increase conservation and sustainable use of local chicken biodiversity in Zambia and parts of SSA.