Poultry Production and Marketing Roadmap for Refugee and Hosting Community Contexts of Turkana, Kenya

Poultry farming is increasingly becoming popular in different human settings, though practised on different scale levels.It is appreciated as one of the leading livelihood sources for rural households and a source of income for small and medium-sized enterprises.Despite the diverse benefits accrued by populations from poultry farming, the diversity of challenges is threatening its viability, profitability, competitiveness, and sustainability.The intention to investigate poultry production and marketing developments in Turkana and its displacement settings was aimed at generating evidence for building a competitive roadmap that can support the delivery of the essential elements of the poultry value chain.The areas for investigation were strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the poultry industry in Turkana, evaluated using the SWOT analysis tool, and a review of the performance of business models and strategies applied by partners and the government in poultry farming programs.A case study research design and mixed method approach for data collection were applied.The primary study respondents were 80 household poultry farmers and 10 focus group discussions (FGD) of poultry producer groups from refugee and host community settings as secondary participants, and 10 government and civil society organizations focal points who were engaged in the study primarily to share views on the role of policy in enhancing livelihoods in Turkana and the displacement settings were tertiary study participants.The key study findings include poultry products being in high demand in Turkana, the national and county agricultural policies prioritizing poultry farming for livelihoods and business, high refugee familiarity with poultry farming, and farmer capacity development through farmer field school (FFS) and Farmer Service Centre (FSC) as key strengths of the industry.However, the volatile market, high cost of production inputs, low level of competition of local producers and entrepreneurs, inadequate water and feed, and poultry production below potential as key intrinsic weaknesses.The highly ranked opportunities are the demand for poultry farming and the popularity of poultry products, which are strategic market enhancers.Threats identified are diseases, stringent competition from external entrepreneurs, and restrictive government policy, especially for refugees who should obtain travel permits to access and compete in external markets.A business model canvas for poultry production and marketing in Turkana and its displacement settings is proposed, including the business model framework to structure and deliver profitable poultry-based ventures.An urgent area for future research is a marketing strategy to actualize the business model canvas and the poultry production and marketing roadmap for Turkana and its displacement settings.