The Supply and Quality of Feeds used by Small-to-Medium Scale Broiler Farmers in Tanzania

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the supply and quality of feeds to small-to-medium (SM)-scale broiler farmers in the Morogoro, Pwani, and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania. A total of 108 SM-scale farmers from the three regions were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Results indicated that broiler chicken farming is dominated by women (>58.3%) in that age-bracket 40 to 59 years. Most were involved in other income generating activities, including mixed farming and formal employment. The most common challenges to SM-scale broiler production were listed as the high feed costs, diseases and marketing the birds. The average flock size per batch was largest in Dar es Salaam (551.1±70.4) and smallest in Pwani (430.5±3.2), with the number of batches per producer per annum ranging between 6.6±3.2 (Morogoro) and 9.8±6.5 (Dar es Salaam). Feeds were mainly bought from retail shops. The most commonly used feed ingredients by farmers were soybean, maize bran, rice, cotton, fish, di-calcium phosphate (DCP), and premixes and were mainly brought from retail shops. Approximately half of the respondents were satisfied with feed quality, a few (<5.7%) were very satisfied with the remainder either dissatisfied or undecided. Birds were sold as live or dressed carcasses, with major outlets reported to be farm gates, restaurants, and supermarkets. Most farmers sold their chickens between 5±0.6 and 6±0.8 weeks of age, weighed between 1.4±0.3 and 1.6±0.3 kg. The profit margin per bird was about TZS 1,089.9±493 in Morogoro, TZS 780±267 in Pwani and TZS 849.7±358 (US$ 1=TZS 2,298.20) in Dar es Salaam. The study findings reveal that poor broiler performance of broiler chickens in the SM-scale sector is mainly attributable to feed costs, price fluctuations and feed quality, among others.