Prospect of Modern Technologies for Poultry Improvement in Africa
摘要
Poultry production is the most extensive commercial livestock production sector in Africa. It has the highest potential to meet the projected increase in demand for animal protein in the continent in the next decade. This chapter focuses on technologies used in different areas of poultry production. The emphasis is on the prospect of using these technologies to improve poultry production. Section 23.1 gives a brief introduction of the topic indicating that technology has a key role to play in all aspects of poultry production. Its deployment holds the key to the ability of the poultry sector to fulfil the expectation of being the main source of animal protein in Africa. Genetic improvement and the supply of high-quality day-old chicks, which is the bedrock of commercial poultry production, rely on the deployment of various technologies. Section 23.2 gives a detailed insight into this. Other technologies are essential in maintaining the good health and wellbeing of birds which is critical in the enhancement of productivity. This is the focus of Sect. 23.3. It includes a subsection on the success of vaccination programmes and other animal health initiatives in Africa. Section 23.4 describes technologies useful in the improvement of nutrition, feed, and feeding of poultry, including a subsection on technology used in feed manufacturing and preservation as well as the biological interaction between feed and bird performance. Section 23.5 describes various technologies that can be deployed to create a good and safe production environment. These include the housing of birds, their nutrition, and health monitoring. These technologies support human skill and knowledge to create and maintain a good production environment. Concluding remarks and perspectives for the future are presented in Sect. 23.6, pointing out that the utilization of technology has the potential to facilitate a sustainable increase in poultry production capacity, and the productivity of farms and individual birds.