Chicken Husbandry Practices and Marketing System in Assosa Town and Around, Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, North Western Ethiopia

Chicken production is important for income generation, food, and nutritional aspects globally. The study aimed to explore husbandry practices and the marketing system of chicken production in Assosa town (district 1) and around. The study district was selected through a purposive sampling method. However, the kebeles of the study area were selected randomly. A multi-stage random sampling technique was applied to choose 156 Households. Data were generated by semi-structured questionnaires and field observations. The data was analysed using SPSS version 20 software. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The results indicate the aim of keeping chickens was income generation and home consumption in urban and peri-urban areas and rural areas, respectively. Chickens were reared intensively in urban areas, whereas they were reared extensively in rural areas. Industrial by-products were a major (65.4%) feed source in urban areas, whereas scavenging (65.4%) was practiced in rural areas. The most common disease outbreak in urban areas was reported to be coccidiosis (57.80%), whereas Newcastle disease (63.40%) was the dominant outbreak disease in rural areas. All respondents (100%) in urban areas had information about the marketing system of chicken and egg. Feed problems were the first chicken production problem in the study area. The attention given to chicken, particularly in husbandry practices like supplementary feeding, health care and housing practices, was very low in rural areas. Therefore, extension development should be implemented to increase the productivity of chickens. As most of the chicken and egg marketing activity of the study area was not information-based, training on chicken husbandry and marketing practices to households would be essential for chicken production and marketing.