Challenges facing chicken production in Katulani district, Kitui County

The poultry industry in Kenya is a key contributor to the local economy as well as food security and income with over 90% of households owning a flock of chicken (Kingori et al., 2010). The main objective of this study was to investigate the challenges faced b y rural and peri urban chicken farmers in Katulani District, Kitui County. The study focussed on understanding the challenges affecting chicken farming, factors affecting technology adoption, access to institutional support services, and choice of chicken heal th management strategies, flock structure and dynamics, in order to devise innovative approaches for promoting chicken industry in the study area. Data were collected through questionnaires, personal observations, photography and interviews on flock size, flock species and purpose, access to credit facilities and trainings. For this study, simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents and data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. Over 80% of households kept indigenous chicken under free range using family labour, which were mainly reared for income and subsistence. House hold size had influence on flock size with large households keeping larger flocks. There were more female headed households (59 .1% ) keeping chicken in the study area as compared to the males (40.1% ) . However, male headed households kept larger flock sizes in both study sites. Education levels had influence on flock size with peri urban areas having higher education levels (average of 10 years studying) and flock sizes compared to the rural households (average of 8 years studying). There were high levels of unemployment in both areas with those who were employed having higher flock sizes. Employment had a significant positive correlation ( p