Abstract

MBUZA Francis, HABIMANA Richard, SIMBANKABO Thomas, MAJYAMBERE Denis

Improved poultry production systems in Rwanda are recent, uncharacterized and not documented. This study was to establish current status, identify the challenges and recommend improvements to layer production systems in Rwanda. The study was conducted on 172 layer poultry farmers from all the four provinces and Kigali city using questionnaires. The majority of farmers kept Rhode Island Red (RIR) 76% and chicks were mainly (73%) imported from abroad. Permanent poultry premises were commonly present (63%) and majority of them (91.9%) were correctly oriented however, lacked proper ventilation and Stocking levels were generally very low as the majority of farmers 75% kept less than 1000 birds. The deep litter system using saw dust predominated (91.5%). Majority of farmers (92.5%) practiced on- farm feed mixing and birds were always fed manually, and those below four weeks were generally underfed. The duration of lighting in poultry pens was within the recommended ranges. Diarrhea was mostly reported (61%) followed by skin diseases (15%), flu (12%) and paralysis (12%) as the commonest diseases. The production parameters with regard to growth and survival traits were inferior to international standards. Lack of quality feeds (38%), credit (20%) and poor market accessibility (19%) were the main challenges reported.