Tadelle Dessie on BBC Africa: why breed more productive chickens?
Chickens are catching up in the livestock race (photo credit: AFP)
Tadelle Dessie, program leader of the African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) program was recently interviewed by BBC Africa reporter Akwasi Sarpong.
Dessie highlights the opportunities with long-standing village poultry rearing and production – especially by women – on the continent, but points to the limitations of relying exclusively on indigenous poultry.
The ACGG coordinator ends this short interview (3 minutes long) by introducing the objectives of the ACGG program, ie. identify tropically adapted and more productive chicken ecotypes from all over the world and test them under farmer conditions to identify the farmer preferred strains to initiate a long-term genetic gains program with these preferred strains. He punctuates with the focus of ACGG on women for their long standing and towering role in poultry rearing, and for the needed opportunities this activity should give back to them.
This interview is related to an article from the BBC Africa team about the opportunities of chicken production in Africa – and it stresses the current renewed interest for the most domestic avian livestock of Africa.
