This initiative is considered essential for the food security in less developed countries where the availability of inputs is low and the reach is difficult.

Chicken production is being augmented using backyard poultry systems and dual-purpose birds, which are improved breed crosses that are multicoloured and thrive on low inputs. These birds are robust and grow faster. The male birds are about 1.5kg in 50 days and can be used for meat. The female are capable of laying 160 to 180 eggs on scavenging and left-overs. The chicken meat thus produced is tougher than from broilers but lean and delicious.

The beneficiaries looking for more eggs are opting for coloured layer hens, which are smaller in size but lay above 250 eggs with low inputs and go up to 300 eggs if reasonable quality feed is provided and reared in small confined groups.

The main concern of the system is poultry health and biosecurity. Vaccination programmes suited to each area are well established. Equipment for feeding and watering the birds is also available at a reasonable price. Cages and nipple drinking systems are well suited for small units.

This is seen as the second stage in backyard poultry farming. Meat is produced in cluster units. Each village will encourage each of eight or 10 people to have a small poultry house in their own property. Birds are kept in an all-in, all-out basis in each house in rotation so birds are available from one house each week. Vaccination is done as necessary.

Females destined for the layer flock are reared in a single unit up to 14 weeks of age, again with vaccination, as required.

A single layer unit has between 50 and 500 birds, housed in cages. Once the vaccinated, birds start laying and they lay eggs for a year. Poultry manure is used as fertiliser for crops. The eggs are sent to hospitals and schools in the same community.

So far, eggs and chicken have been moving from urban areas to rural areas, generating a reverse flow of poultry products.

The Rainbow Rooster, a multicoloured dual-purpose chicken developed by Indbro Research & Breeding Farms Pvt. Ltd is successfully meeting the needs for cluster rearing, while its brown layer suits the requirements of the family laying units.