Poultry-based intervention as tool for poverty reduction and gender empowerment: Empirical evidence from Benin

Wednesday 27 April 2011

MSc Epiphane Sodjinou defended his thesis.

 

download the full thesis (pdf)

Summary:

Benin is among the poorest countries in the world with an agriculture-based economy. Poverty is more prevalent in rural areas where, for many people, village poultry plays a significant income generating role. In recognition of this role, various development agencies have supported the development of village poultry in Benin. These projects often constitute two parts: a technical component (CBM: community-based management) and a financial component (micro finance). The overall goal of this PhD thesis is to assess the impact of these poultry-based interventions on village poultry performance and on the rural households’ living conditions (poverty, vulnerability, gender empowerment, education). Methodologically, the work relies on the Sustainable Livelihood Approach as a general analytical framework. The findings show that CBM boosts the adoption of various village poultry improvement technologies such as vaccination, improved feeding, and housing. CBM significantly improves village poultry performance (birds’ survival rate, breeders’ technical efficiency, gross margin, and productivity). CBM alone or in combination with micro finance significantly improves the households’ income and market orientation regarding village poultry. This improvement is more significant when the participants in CBM receive poultry-based micro finance, i.e. micro finance formally granted for village poultry production. In contrast, the use of micro finance without CBM does not significantly improve the well-being of the recipient households. Moreover, CBM plus micro finance increase women’s participation in decision-making within households. Finally, the thesis also assesses village poultry market performance and how this market works for poultry producers, and the way their positions could be improved.

Principal Supervisor:

Associate Professor Noman Kanafani, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Co-supervisor:

Assistant Professor Arne Henningsen, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

 

Assessment Committee:

Professor John Rand, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen (chairman)

 

Professor Dr. Bernhard Brümmer, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, University of Göttingen, Germany

 

Senior Researcher Simon Bolwig, National Laboratory of Sustainable Energy (Risø), Technical University of Denmark