Strategies to Upgrade Animal Health Delivery in Village Poultry Systems: Perspectives of Stakeholders From Northern Ghana and Central Zones in Tanzania

However, low productivity is a major feature of village poultry production in the region, limiting the capacity of smallholder poultry to deliver on its potential for addressing poverty and food security. Infectious poultry diseases are a key factor driving low productivity of village poultry production systems. Newcastle disease (ND) is a highly infectious viral disease among domestic and wild birds, and virulent strains can cause up to 100% mortality among affected flocks, resulting in major economic losses each year. In village poultry production systems, strategies common for the management of ND and other poultry diseases, including vaccination and biosecurity measures, have seen limited success. New approaches are needed that can successfully deliver animal health inputs and services for the effective management of poultry health challenges in low-input systems. Focus group discussions with men and women farmers, as well as other poultry value chain actors, were conducted to investigate potential options for delivery of animal health care to village poultry systems in northern Ghana and central Tanzania. ND was commonly reported as a major disease constraint in the study sites of the two countries, with resulting fatalities particularly impactful on men and women producers and on traders. The key health-related challenges prioritized by women and men participants included limited access to, and poor quality of, vaccines and veterinary drugs, a shortage of veterinary officers, and insufficient knowledge and training of farmers on flock management practices. Women, more than men, emphasized the difficulties of accessing poultry health services. Assessments suggest that for poultry health care delivery in the studied communities to be effective, there is a need to improve the supply of good quality drugs and vaccines in rural areas, respond to the needs of both men and women, and recognize the different incentives for farmers, traders, and other value chain actors. Community-based approaches and increased use of ICT technology, such as mobile phones, have much to offer in this regard. In many low-input poultry systems, considerably more effort is needed to bridge critical gaps in policy, coordination, quality assurance, packaging, administration, evaluation, and monitoring, training, and gender-sensitivity to facilitate successful vaccine delivery. Such an environment could hinder investments into vaccine supply on the part of public and private agencies, as well as vaccine uptake by smallholder producers. A recent study found that while chicken-owning smallholder households place value on, and benefit from, vaccines against ND, they face substantial other barriers to vaccination. Studies have highlighted the importance of market-driven approaches to addressing non-technical constraints to vaccine availability, while others have stressed the need to understand preferences of small-scale poultry farmers and to recognize that these preferences could differ for women and men. Conceptually, a successful system for the delivery of animal services to village poultry value chains, at least in the context of ND management, will be one that adequately addresses issues of weak effectiveness, poor availability, and inequitable access to animal health inputs. It should also account for concerns about user perceptions and experiences of the services. The poultry value chain refers to the range of activities involved in moving product (in this case, live poultry and poultry products) from the village producer to the final consumer. To be sustainable, a technically efficient animal health system serving the poultry value chain must provide the right mix of incentives to relevant value-chain actors, i.e., producers, private investors, and other decision-makers that critically affect its success.