Analysis of Rwandan Smallholder Poultry Farmer Needs in Production Manuals

As global population continues to grow improving agricultural production become even more important. Smallholder farmers make up a large portion of agricultural production in developing countries (Gueye, 2000; Upton, 2000). East Africa is one sector which has seen growth in poultry production over the pas five years. (Vernooij, Masaki, & Meiher-Willems, 2018). One major constraint to smallholder production is lack of access to educational materials and production guidelines (Mack et al., 2005). The purpose of the study was to describe methods of production utilized by smallholder farmers in Rwanda and determine what information should be included in a production guide. The study design was a quantitative non-experimental survey. The survey used convenience sampling and participants were made up of smallholder farmers in Rwanda who had been involved with Zamura Feeds, a feed mill working with U.S. poultry companies. The results show that the participants were interested in production manuals. They found all topics discussed in the survey to be important in a production manual. Production practices were also determined through the questionnaire. The majority of participants were housing and feeding their poultry, but the majority were not practicing biosecurity. The objective of the study was to gather information on what should be included in production materials for smallholder farmers