Common Diseases Affecting Poultry Production in Arusha Peri-urban, Northern Tanzania

Aims: Poultry production has been the most significant source of income among farmers in Arusha peri-urban, Northern Tanzania. But in Recent days, the production of poultry farmers are getting reduced which is affecting their income. The study, therefore, was conducted to minimise the common affecting diseases that influence poultry production in Arusha.

Study Design: Study was a cross-sectional survey.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted in selected 20 wards in Arusha Northern Tanzania from January to April 2015.

Methodology: Purposive sampling was used to select wards while simple random sampling was used to select farmers within selected wards. Key Informant (KI) and telephone interviews were conducted with the heads of poultry keepers' households while Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and semi-structured questionnaires employed to 100 households involved in poultry production. Data were analyzed by SPSS software to establish calculated descriptive statistics. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: The results showed that almost half of the farmers (45%) had basic primary education and 15% with informal education. The rest of farmers had secondary and post-secondary education by 25 and 15% respectively. Livestock production was the main farmers’ livelihood activity by 60% while mixed farming of livestock and horticulture was another farmers’ activity by 27%. Those who were engaged in horticulture only were 10% while 3% involved in non-agricultural activities. Among the farmer’ group involved in livestock production, the majority of them (68%) were keeping indigenous poultry mainly chicken and about 26% keeping both dairy cows and goats. Few farmers (6%) were keeping rabbits. Further assessment of common diseases affecting poultry production showed that Newcastle, and both coccidiosis and respiratory infections were causing high mortality in poultry by 44, and 28% respectively. From pair wise ranking lack of management skills, poor nutrition in poultry and inaccessibility of poultry drugs and vaccines were the factors behind the disease occurrence by 41, 35 and 24% respectively.

Conclusion: Fear of disease increasing and spreading to neighboring farmers is becoming a major concern. It is therefore concluded that local bylaws and quarantines are kept in a place to avoid this increase and their spreading.