Abstract

This paper reviews the socio-economics of poultry production with the aim of delivering summarized and synthesized information for the beneficiaries. Poultry production and product consumption are progressively growing in the world. Poultry accounts for about 33% of the global meat consumption and is expected to grow at 2 to 3% per year in the world. Literature stated that large size poultry farms were more efficient, but these farms are few in the developing countries. Although there is prediction that technology favors the intensification of poultry production in these countries, village poultry still is profitable that contributes to poverty alleviation and has no market problems. Women and children are responsible for caretaking of poultry and they are also beneficiaries. The largest off-take rates of birds occur particularly during holidays and festivals in Ethiopia. Chicken population and per capita consumption of egg and poultry meat has been declining to the face of population growth in Ethiopia. Livestock production is likely to be increasingly affected by climate change; however poultry industry has a natural advantage over others livestock because of its low global warming potential. Thus, poultry meat and egg production is the most environmentally efficient animal protein production system. But, poultry production has been facing with a problem of food-feed competition and other critical gaps that need to be filled by the institutions of research and development. The study showed that such poultry technologies should be compatible with local socio-economical interests. Further improvement would be possible by lowering the prices at the consumer level and by improving the profitability of producers. It is concluded that poultry production has so many socio-economical advantages in satisfying the demands of animal source foods.

Key words: Health and climate change, poultry production, protein foods, socio-economics.