Role of Backyard Poultry in Sustainable Rural Livelihood under Indian Perspectives

It is fact that people are becoming much health-conscious and they are incorporating more animal protein in their diet due to its beneficial effects.

- Amit Kumar Singh, Pooja Singh,Sushil Kumar Yadav , Anil

In addition to it, it's a well noticeable point that as per a survey by comptroller general of India, over 75% of Indian youths from 15 to 35 yrs of age are nonvegetarians. It displays tremendous scope of poultry industry in India. Backyard poultry farming has been the integral part of Indian farming since long time. It has been aiding into additional income over the gains through selling of crops and dairy products. In backyard poultry production system, generally, birds are kept loose to find and select their food items from an enclosed area mostly by scavenging. A small area, small house, is provided adjacently with their feeding area where they return back to rest mostly after sunset and receive small supplemental feed materials as shown in figure 1 along with a provision of water facility. They sometime feed on domestic/kitchen wastes. Studies suggest that they hardly receive any health facilities. Mortality of chicks is high generally. Birds used in this venture are generally of local breed type and they are mostly of colored type. They are hardy with rough climatic conditions and considerably disease resistant. Backyard poultry production has been termed as poor return providing activity, however, now it has changed a lot. Recent studies suggest that with an improved husbandry practices and availability of improved Germplasm, quicker and promising benefits may be achieved.