Impact of vaccination against chicken Newcastle disease on food intake and food security in rural households in Tanzania
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Date
2010
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Abstract
Background. Small-scale poultry production has the
potential to increase animal-source food consumption,
improve household income, and reduce food insecurity.
Objective. To assess the impact of a chicken Newcastle
disease vaccination program on consumption of chicken
and eggs among women and children, income, and food
insecurity in rural Tanzanian households.
Methods. Comparisons were made between house-
holds from three project villages, which participated in
a Newcastle disease vaccination program for chickens,
and three control villages, which did not participate.
Household interviews were done with mothers from a
random sample in March 2008 (237 households) and
March 2009 (261 households).
Results. After the first year of vaccinations (three
rounds), project households kept significantly more
chickens and tended to be more food secure than con-
trol households. Mothers from project households ate
significantly more eggs than their counterparts in con-
trol households. A similar trend was observed among
children. In 2009, fewer chickens were vaccinated in the
project villages than in 2008, and more chickens were
independently vaccinated in the control villages. This cor-
responded with an increase in ownership of chickens, a
reduction in food insecurity, and improved consumption
of eggs in control villages, whereas chicken ownership and
egg consumption decreased and food insecurity remained
relatively stable in project villages. We saw no differences
between project and control villages in income earned
Danielle Knueppel, Montague Demment, and Lucia Kaiser
are affiliated with the University of California, Davis, Cali-
fornia, USA; Carol Cardona is affiliated with the College of
Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Min-
nesota, USA; Peter Msoffe is affiliated with the Department
of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health at the Sokoine
University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Please direct queries to the corresponding author, Danielle
Knueppel, at: University of California, Davis, Department
of Nutrition, Davis CA 95616, USA; e-mail: dmknueppel@
ucdavis.edu.
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from chicken and egg sales.
Conclusions. Our findings suggest that an increase
in chicken Newcastle disease vaccination can lead to an
increase in ownership of chickens and egg consumption
and may also have an effect on reducing household food
insecurity.
Description
Keywords
Agricultural development, Newcastle dis- ease, Tanzania, Food security, Impact assessment, Poultry