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• Livelihoods and food security

Food security

This report outlines the impact of bird flu on poor people’s livelihoods in West Bengal, India. Based on a survey of about 180 rural households raising ‘Kuroilers’ (a dual purpose bird introduced by Keggfarms Pvt. Ltd) and a control group consisting of households keeping desi birds, the study examines the impact of the bird flu outbreak and associated control measures on income and nutritional aspects of households involved in the entire chain of Kuroiler distribution and production.

Key findings from the study indicate the following significant factors:

• five months after lifting of the poultry production ban, poultry stock was still well below pre-outbreak levels (approximately 50 percent lower in indirectly affected districts and 75 percent lower in the directly affected district)
• a lack of seed-stock due to disruption in supply chain and inaccessibility to micro credit appear to be the major constraints in more rapid restocking
• the massive loss of poultry, although traumatic, did not have a significant impact on the food security of producer households; grain consumption was not affected and poultry protein was substituted by fish protein
• households coped with income shortfalls by reducing educational expenditure, mostly on ‘private instruction’ and educational supplies for children
• the supply chain of Kuroiler operations, the key strength of the Kuroiler model, has broken down in many places and has resulted in supply shortfall in Kuroiler chicks leading to a sharp increase in their sale prices
• compensation only reached a very small proportion of households who presented their birds for culling while households who withheld birds benefited through post outbreak price increases and more rapid restocking, which creates perverse incentives for future outbreaks
• knowledge level regarding bird flu and biosecurity measures remains low amongst the poor poultry keepers for want of awareness campaigns.

The paper concludes that the Kuroiler based enterprises generates high profit margin ratios at all levels in the supply chain thereby adding to the menu of livelihood options available to the poor. Although the overall average contribution of Kuroilers to total household income of small-scale producers is just about 10 percent, their contribution to other aspects of livelihoods is deemed substantial despite not being quantifiable in monetary terms. These areas include: nutritional security, strengthening of social networks, developing entrepreneurial capabilities and increase in decision making by women. 

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