Presented by Tadelle Dessie at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health 2017 Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, 26–29 September 2017

1. .
Challenges and opportunities for improved
tropical poultry productivity and resilience
Tadelle Dessie
CTLGH Annual Meeting
Edinburgh, 26-29 September 2017

2. Chicken production systems in SSA
• Village production system
• Commercial production system
• Small-scale production system
 Based on:
• Objectives of the producer
• Type and number of animals
• Management system followed

3. Opportunity - Village production system
High potential for
women’s empowerment
Chicken leads the global
meat trade with 40% of
exports to Africa and the
Middle East
Egg and chicken meat are
often the highest value
agricultural product
globally
High potential for
contributing to dietary
diversity globally
Low-productivity but
high potential for growth
across a range of systems
Income +
Nutrition
=Pathway out
of Poverty

4. Yield gaps in chicken production in Africa:
the opportunity
scavenging semi-scavenging Intensive
Indigenous 45 70 150
Hybrid 140 150 250
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Eggs per chicken per year
Indigenous Hybrid
Sources: The data for the
hybrid used here are from
Kuroiler from an Indian
environment (Ahuja et al.,
2008); while for indigenous
birds the data are from Hill
and Modebe 1961; Oluyemi
and Oyenuga,1971;
Akinokun and Dettmers,
1976; Nwosu et al, 1979;
Nwosu and Omeje, 1985;
and Sonaiya, 1990. Dessie,
1995 etc

5. Challenges: Village production system
• High mortality -Farmers lost interest to invest
• Birds are slow growers and lay small size/number of eggs
– Absence of tropically adapted and more productive breeds
• No continuous supply of improved genetic material to small producers
– major cause of failure of improvement projects
• Similar issue for feed and health service provision
-> catalyze public-private partnerships for increasing
smallholder chicken production and productivity growth
-> Need to organize a supply chain of inputs tailored specifically
to the needs of small-scale poultry producers

6. African Chicken Genetic Gains
A platform for testing, delivering, and continuously improving
tropically-adapted chickens for productivity growth in sub-
Saharan Africa

7. ACGG Vision
The vision of this program is to catalyze public-private partnerships for
increasing smallholder chicken production and productivity growth
as a pathway out of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

8. The ACGG project
• ILRI led BMGF funded project
The project has been testing in parallel multiple
tropically adapted and more productive chicken strains
under both on-station and on-farm management
conditions, in different agro-ecologies

9. What are we doing differently?
ACGG Five Pillars of Change
1. High-producing genetics that is well-adapted to low-
input production systems;
2. Farmer preferred breeds of chickens;
3. Public-private partnership for improvement,
multiplication, and delivery;
4. Women at the center to ensure success; and
5. Innovation platforms for developing solutions across the
value chain.

10. What must be different?
1. From “silver bullets” to  researched options (informed
by farmer experimentation)
2. From “we are here to offer you solutions” to “we are here
to work with you to find solutions”
3. From pure focus on pushing ‘promising strains’
to recognition of importance of O x C
4. Innovation Platforms at national and community level as on-
going processes for industry integration which outlive the
current Project!

11. What is the science?
Source: Mwacharo et al 2008; Dessie et al 2011
45
eggs/yr
180
eggs/yr
From indigenous to TAPBs
Geography /
Conditions
Breed Average
eggs/
year
West Africa scavenging (sub)-
humid
Indigenous 33
East Africa scavenging (sub)-
humid
Indigenous 58
Egypt Fayoumi 146
South Africa Koekoek 204
Ghana (intensive feeding) Naked Neck 288
Ghana (intensive feeding) Frizzle Feather 287
Uganda Kuroiler 180
India Rainbow Star 160-180
India CARI lines 198-220
Developed world “Exotic” 300+

12. Give up other
farming for full-
time poultry;
intensive grain
feeding
competes with
cheap imports
Mortality:
Egg Yield
/Year:
Indigenous
chickens
40-50
70-80%
Selected
indigenous
chickens
~80
Artificial
hatching of
indigenous
chickens
~80
Intensive
production
250-300
Identify most
productive local
ecotypes and
multiply
Supplemental
feeding,
vaccination, and
brooding
50-70% 10-20% <5%
Artificial
hatching of
tropically
adapted /
crossbreds
120-150
(semi-intensive)
5-10%
Smallholder
adoption
productive of
tropically
adapted birds
Too risky for
many
Smallholders?

14. Chicken strains being tested
• Kuroiler
• Sasso
• Shika Brwn
• FUNAB Alpha
• Fulani +
• XX ecotypes in the
sites
• Kuroiler
• Koekoek
• Sasso (RIR X Sasso)
• Sasso
• Horro + XX ecotypes
in the sites
• Kuroiler
• Sasso
• Black Australorp
• XX ecotypes in the
sites

15. ACGG data:
Data driven understanding of the breeds and specific traits that poor
smallholder farmers, especially women, prefer across the various
countries and agro-ecologies –Main outcome of ACGG
• Major points of data collection for ACGG are:
• Baseline and cross sectional survey
• Longitudinal survey

16. DB
Validate

17. Major outcomes- Baseline and
cross sectional survey
• Baseline Data cleaned and analyzed Specific production
characteristics identified
• Outputs of the baseline information used as an input to design
on-farm testing

18. What are the desires of SHC Farmers?
Grow bigger
& faster
Lay more
eggs
Have high
survival
rate
To have birds that

19. ACGG Longitudinal data – interim analysis results

20. Fitted growth curve (growth data from day old to 18 weeks of age) using the non-linear models (Gompertz
equation) for estimating growth curves to describe the relationship between live body weight and age of
Kuroiler breed at DZARC, Ethiopia

21. Fitted growth curve (growth data from day old to 18 weeks of age) using the non-linear models
(Gompertz equation) for estimating growth curves to describe the relationship between live body
weight and age of Sasso breed at DZARC, Ethiopia

22. Fitted growth curve (growth data from day old to 18 weeks of age) using the non-linear models (Gompertz
equation) for estimating growth curves to describe the relationship between live body weight and age of
FUNAB Alpha breed at FUNAAB, Nigeria

23. 39.35 (10.58)
159.81 (10.68)
265.01 (11.40)
578.27 (11.40)
841.78 (11.44)
1285.78 (37.97)
1695.77 (37.41)
2392.81 (37.41)
2619.56 (39.52)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Week 0 Week 2 Week 4 Week 6 Week 8 Week 10 Week 12 Week 16 Week 18
Bodyweightingrams
Age in weeks
Week 14
578 + LBW
Live body weight (g) (0 to 18 wks), at six weeks and age when two kg
live body weight of Kuroiler breed at FUNAAB, Nigeria

24. Live body weight (g) (0 to 18 wks), at six weeks and age when
two kg live body weight of Sasso breed at FUNAAB, Nigeria
39.1 (9.38)
148.87
(9.84)
148.87 (10.31)
476.51 (11.33)
748.06 (10.93)
1226.98 (29.04)
1716.24 (30.55)
2397.37 (29.40)
2644.06
(30.35
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Week 0 Week 2 Week 4 Week 6 Week 8 Week 10 Week 12 Week 16 Week 18
Bodyweightingrams
Age in weeks
Week 15
476g LBW

25. Live body weight (g) (0 to 18 wks), at six weeks and age when
two kg live body weight of Kuroiler breed at DZARC, Ethiopia
35.66 (4.59)
187.44 (5.27)
468.89 (5.55)
762.45 (5.47)
1147.69(5.83)
1528.11 (28.33)
1869.02
(40.63)
1874.28 (90.86)
2133.2
(107.51)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
week 0 week 2 week 4 week 6 week 8 week 9 week 12 week 16 week 18
Bodyweightingrams
Age in weeks
Week 17
700g + LBW

26. Live body weight (g) (0 to 18 wks), at six weeks and age when
two kg live body weight of Sasso breed at DZARC, Ethiopia
32.99 (4.63)
144.78 (4.71)
349.24 (4.82)
574.09 (4.81)
830.95 (4.86)
1048.93 (22.51)
1508.2 (25.77)
1870.46
(45.43)
1837.75
(69.4)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
week 0 week 2 week 4 week 6 week 8 week 9 week 12 week 16 week 18
Bodyweightingrams
Age in weeks
574g LBW
Week 19

27. week 9 week 12 week 16 week 18
Village Chicken 200 351 542 701
Improved Horro 692 936 1340 1540
Koekoek 850 1255 1794 1889
Sasso 1049 1508 1837 1903
Kuroiler 1528 1869 1974 2133
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
AxisTitle
Mean body weight (g) of different chicken strains tested at Debre Zeit, Ethiopia (9 to 18 weeks
of age) -200 to 300 % increase from the indigenous chicken-ACGG on-station testing interim
result

28. 7,500
Farmers
Longterm Genetic
Gain ProgramProduction/
Productivity
Mortality
Input Access
Preferences
Profitability
Farmers’
Perceptions
Testing Information
Brooders/
Multipliers
Innovation
Platform
Scale!
ACGG On-
farm Testing-
Research
driving
delivery at
scale

29. A platform for developing a Long Term Genetic Gains program for tropically-
adapted and farmer preferred chickens for sustainable productivity growth in
sub-Saharan Africa
The Long Term Chicken Genetic Gains (LTGG) Program
CTLGH poultry Genomics program
ACGG
+

30. What is our vision for this “network”?
Key elements
 Set-up a long term genetic Gains program (Pure
breeds or GPS) of farmer preferred strains -
ACGG’s longitudinal study, by private sector
chicken breeding companies
 potentially within-breed selection and
crossbreeding
 Base population 180 eggs/hen/Y – 2% GG
annually
 Establish a supply of improved Parent stock
with improved growth, egg production, feed
conversion and adaptability traits
 Multiplier flocks established and scaled-up
via a net work of hatcheries/multipliers
 When target scale is reached, hatcheries
begin sale of day-old improved chicks to
mother units/farmers
 Chicks vaccinated by hatcheries/multipliers and/or
mother units
Private sector chicken breeding
companies
Breeding farms and multipliers
Mother units/
Farmers
Mother units/
Farmers
Network of
Hatcheries/
multipliers
Day-old chicks
Eggs, Live chickens/
meat
Market
Vaccines
Medicines
Pure breeds or GPS of farmer
preferred strains
Millions of
farmers
Feedbacksysteminallthestages

31. • Negotiate the IP and access
to the preferred strains;
• Design and coordination of
the LTGG program;
• Capacity assessment/gap
analysis in the
private/public sector
partners; and
• Develop and lead the
implementation of context
specific capacity building
Who are the partners of the Long Term Genetic Gains
program network ?
National
Agricultural
Research
System (NARS)
The platform
members (ILRI, PSBCs,
WUR, NARS etc)
Private sector
breeding
companies ILRI /PSBCs–
Overall
coordination
of the
program
• Day-to-day management of the
genetic gains work;
• Multiply and sell parent stock
and GPS to hatcheries;
• Maintain parent stock; and
• Multiply and distribute
commercial germplasms to
mother units and/or farmers at
scale.
• Germplasm testing, data
collection, storage and
genetic evaluation of lines,
feedback and quality
assurance.
• Provide technical backstopping
in the design and setting up of
the LTGG program-data
capture, genetic evaluation,
and capacity building

32. Chicken’s high rate of reproduction enables rapid scale
Distribution could begin after 12 months
6 12Phase 2 Months 18 24
Size
Multiplier flock
100* 1,970 38,800 765,000 Millions100
Number of
smallholders
benefitting
7,300 145,000 millions More
millions
No chick distribution Limited distribution (5-10%) Full dissemination
This model can be implemented
simultaneously in multiple
geographies and countries.

33. The four cardinal aims of ACGG -outcomes
• Employment creation
.
• Wealth creation
• Poverty reduction
• Building the capacity of partners

34. ACGG Partnership - Mr Key

35. Kind Palms
Ventures
Olorun
Osun Farms
Partners now

36. Field Officers/enumerators -Nigeria

37. Project partner farmers/Beneficiaries…2100 in Nigeria
Kwara ImoRivers Nasarawa Kebbi
420 Farmers per

38. more productive chickens for Africa’s
smallholders
http://africacgg.net
The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

39. Thank you for your
attention