Traditional Chicken Production System and Marketing in Ethiopia: A review

In Ethiopia, the agricultural sector is a corner stone of the economic and social life of the people. The sector employs 80-85 percent of the population and contributes 40 percent to the total GDP. Livestock production, as one component of agriculture, covers 40 percent of agricultural output and it also plays an important role in the national economy as it contributes 13-16 percent of the total GDP. Poultry production, as one segment of livestock production, has a peculiar privilege to contribute to the sector. Similarly, households in Ethiopia keep birds for household consumption, sale and reproduction purposes including other social and cultural roles. Estimating the economic value of rural poultry is more difficult than for other livestock because of the lack of reliable production data. Rural chicken in Ethiopia represents a significant part of the national economy in general and the rural economy in particular and contribute to 98.5% and 99.2% of the national egg and chicken meat production, respectively. However, the economic contribution of the sector is still not proportional to the huge chicken numbers, attributed to the presence of many technical, organizational and institutional constraints. It is difficult to design and implement chicken based development programs that benefit rural people without understanding traditional chicken production systems and marketing. This paper is to review traditional chicken production system and marketing in Ethiopia. Keywords: Chicken, marketing and traditiona