Village Poultry as a Production System
2 Ondokuzmayıs Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi Zootekni Bölümü, Samsun - Village poultry which is a family production system is known from ancient time in the world. This system is named family, back-yard, garden and extensive production systems. The name of the production system is affected by the population size and contribution of family and community. In this system, families produce their animal protein requirement and sell excess of their products and contribute to family budget.
Village poultry can be found in all developing and non-developed countries and play a vital role in many poor rural households. They provide scarce animal protein in the form of meat and eggs and can be sold or bartered to meet essential family needs such as medicine, clothes and school fees. Also, village poultry are active in pest control; provide manure is required for special festivals and essential for many traditional ceremonies. They are generally owned and managed by women and children and are often essential elements of female-headed households. The output of village poultry is lower than that of intensively raised birds but it is obtained with a minimum input in terms of housing, disease control, management and supplementary feeding.
In recent years, demands of animal products are towards to biological or natural products in developed countries. These products have been sold high price which are produced by animal welfare conditions.
Village poultry and their products are essential to social life, but there are very low research and knowledge about this production system in Turkey. It was even left aside because of bird-flu (avian influenza) fear. There is no production model related to production system of the village poultry. Controlled village poultry in Turkey, can be use as a production system of organic production, good welfare, and free-range. In this paper, some information has given on the village poultry and aimed to discussion some models of the Turkey rural areas.
Keywords : Village poultry, free-range, extensive production, nutrition of the rural