Characteristics of indigenous guinea fowl ( Numida meleagris ) family poultry production in northern Togo
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Characteristics of indigenous guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) family poultry production in northern Togo Aïcha E. Soara 1,2
&
Essodina Talaki 1,3 & Kokou Tona 1,3
Received: 28 June 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract A survey was conducted in Dry Savannah and Atakora agroecological zones in northern Togo, between March and July 2018, to characterise indigenous guinea fowl management practices. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 82 farmers in 28 villages. The data were analysed using the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test, independent-sample t test and the multiple correspondence analysis with SPSS and XLSTAT. The results showed that guinea fowl production was mainly practised by men (91.5%) who did not have training in guinea fowl production (68.4%). In traditional poultry farming, the most popular management method was the semi-intensive system (86.2%). Guinea fowl, which was raised primarily for sale (100%), was the main bird species with 68.2 ± 92.5 birds per farmer. All respondents provided a dietary supplement to guinea fowl with a feeding management that varied according to the birds’ developmental stage. Wing drooping (89.3%), diarrhoea (67.4%) and drowsiness (64.7%) were the main clinical symptoms of diseases observed. The majority of respondents (68.2%) used both conventional veterinary products and ethno-veterinary plant products as drugs in order to control guinea fowl diseases. Guinea fowl started laying at 8.4 ± 1.6 months and had 128.5 ± 51.2 eggs per year. The indigenous hen that hatched eggs naturally had 43.6 ± 17.1 hatching eggs per year with a hatchability of 85.0%. For 85.4% of the respondents, survivability was the main problem in guinea fowl production. Improving the survivability of the birds could improve their productivity, as they play an important socioeconomic role for most rural households. Keywords Indigenous . Guinea fowl . Breeding practices . Togo
Introduction Poultry farming is an important part of agricultural economy in Togo with more than 16 million birds in 2012 (FAO 2015). As in many countries in West Africa, poultry production is divided into two distinct groups: extensive poultry farming that does not keep pace with increasing population consumption and intensive poultry farming which requires technical and financial resources inaccessible to rural farmers. Despite * Aïcha E. Soara [email protected] 1
Centre d’Excellence Régional sur les Sciences Aviaires (CERSA), Université de Lomé (UL), B.P. 1515, Lomé, Togo
2
Département Environnement et Forêts, Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA)/Kamboinsé, B.P. 7047, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
3
Ecole Supérieure d’Agronomie (ESA), Université de Lomé (UL), B.P. 1515, Lomé, Togo
its low productivity, traditional poultry farming contributes significantly to food security, alleviates poverty and serves as a source of employment for disadvantaged groups (YapiGnaoré et al. 2010; Lombo et al. 2011; Chrysostome et al. 2013; Yakubu
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