Mortality as the primary constraint to enhancing nutritional and financial gains from poultry: A multi-year longitudinal study of smallholder farmers in western Kenya

The overwhelming majority of off-take can be classified as involuntary off-take, principally due to mortality, that does not reflect the owner's decision to maximize value through nutritional gain, income, or social capital. This strongly suggests that there is substantial opportunity to enhance the value of chickens as an asset, both nutritional and income generating, for smallholder households living at poverty level. Our findings suggest that programs emphasizing community level poultry vaccination and feed supplementation are much more likely to be effective than those solely focused on providing chickens.