CHARACTERIZATION AND TYPOLOGY OF GUINEA FOWL ( NUMIDA MELEAGRIS ) FARMING SYSTEMS IN BURKINA FASO.

Fabiola G. Traoré 1 , * Amadou Traoré 1 , Balé Bayala 2 , Guiguibaza K. Dayo 3 , Arnaud S. Tapsoba 1 , Albert Soudré 4 , Moumouni Sanou 1 , Kisito Tindano 5 and Hamidou H. Tamboura 1 . 1. Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA)-Laboratoire de Biologie et de Santé animales, 04 BP 8645 Ouagadougou 04, Burkina Faso. Tél: +226 25 34 02 70. 2. Université de Ouagadougou, Unité de Formation et de Recherches en sciences de la vie et de la terre, 03 BP 7021 Ouagadougou 03 Burkina Faso. Tél: +226 25 30 70 63. 3. Centre International de Recherches Développement sur l’Elevage en zones Subhumides; 01 BP 454 BoboDioulasso 01, Burkina Faso. Tél. : +226 20 97 20 53 / 20 97 27 95. 4. Université Norbert Zongo, UFR Sciences et Techniques, BP 376 Koudougou, Burkina Faso. 5. Ecole Nationale de l’Elevage et de la Santé Animale (ENESA), 03 BP 7023 Ouagadougou 04. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

Guinea fowl (Numida Meleagris) production systems characterization was carried out in Burkina Faso through a baseline survey describing diversity in Guinea fowl farming practices in a context of limited references on this specie, in order to plan further development efforts and to enhance productivity. Five sites belonging to the three agroecological areas of Burkina Faso were covered as followed: one, three and one sites respectively in Sahel, Sudan-Sahel and Sudan areas. A total of 100 farmers were interviewed: 25 in Sahel area, 55 in Sudan-Sahel area and 20 in Sudan area. Descriptive statistics, multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical classification have been performed using R software to establish the diversity of local Guinea fowl production system and typology. Guinea fowl breeding is mainly practiced by men (93%) in a free-range production system (93%), predominant in Sahel area (80%) while semi intensive breeding system was mainly encountered in Sudan (75%) and Sudan-Sahel (82%) zones. According to interviewers, the main reasons for keeping guinea fowl compared to hen were egg quantity (76%), high price value (66%), meat quality (60%) and better productivity (36%). The main constraints rely on diseases and pests (77%), high mortality rate (65%), lack of knowledge in breeding practices (57%) and predation (54%). Moreover, to carry out their activity, guinea fowl keepers need support from extension services for capacity building. An institutional support with appropriate research in the production sector is needed to improve the living conditions of rural breeders' association mixtures, which may contribute to alleviate poverty.

Data analysis:-
The typology of guinea fowl farming carried out in this study, took into account different elements of a farming system, the farmer, the herd and the management system including health, reproduction and breeding as stated by Gibson et al. (1990). All statistical analyses were performed using R Version 3.1.0 (R Core Team, 2015).
Descriptive statistics were first performed to determine the sampled herd characteristics. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical classification analysis (HCA, Ward's algorithm) allowed establishing the typology using the FactoMineR package of R (Lê et al., 2008).
Sixteen significant variables were used for this typology and the details are given in table 2. Table 3 summarizes socio-economic characteristics of the 100 breeders involved in this study. Guinea fowl farms are mainly headed by men (93%). However, 20% of farm headers are women in Sahelian area.
About 61% of the respondents were Muslim (100% in Sahelian area) whereas the remaining 23% and 16% are Catholic and Animists respectively.
Regarding age, the survey respondents ranged from 30 to 80 years old with an average of 47.7. The largest proportion (55%) of the respondents was more than 50 years old.
The Guinea fowl flocks size are mainly between 0-50 individuals (90, 85 and 65% respectively in Sudan, Sudansahel and Sahel area). Only 8% (Sahel) and 10% (Sudan) of flock in Sudan area have more than 100 heads of Guinea fowl.
It was mainly the responsibility of women and children (80% of women and 74% of children) to feed and offer water to local guinea fowls. Their role is also focused to herd management while men are responsibles for marketing of Guinea fowl and Guinea fowl products.
About 81% of the respondents received no training in poultry and guinea fowl breeding and 59% of the interviewed were illiterate while 16% read and write in Arabic.
Twelve (12%) percent and 11% went through primary or secondary cycles respectively. Only 2% of interviewees have university level.
Most respondents (68%) were fully involved in Agriculture as main means of livelihood and 23% are involved mainly in livestock keeping (guinea fowl and others species). The remaining 9% of the respondents were merchants.

Guinea fowl production system:-
The characteristics of the guinea fowl production systems are summarized in table 4. Three main productions 9 systems have been described in this study: the free-range, semi-free range and intensive production systems. The most predominant production system described is the free-range system (65%). However the predominant system in Sahel area is the free-range system (80%). In general, there is no separate housing system for guinea fowl in the study area (Table 4). About 63% of the respondents reported that guinea fowl share house with poultry in henhouse during night time while during day time, they scavenge around the house along with other domestic animals. This housing system is encountered in Sahel area (32%), Sudan (70%) and Sudan-Sahel areas (82%). In Sahel area, 84% of respondents declared that guinea fowl mainly perch on trees during nighttime.
Housing facilities in the areas are made with local and traditional materials, usually in banco mixed with straw.
The initial breeding stock were constitutes through three main different ways: inherited, purchased and gift. A considerable number of the farmers (82%) acquired their initial breeding stock through purchase from markets.
The main motives for keeping guinea fowl were profit; with 76%, 60% and 66% of interviewees keeping them for their high amount of egg, meat quality (organoleptic) and high price value respectively. However, differences are noted between sampling sites. The most reasons reported by Sudan and Sudan-Sahel smallholders were, the amount of egg (100% in Sudan area, 82% in Sudan-Sahel area), the meat quality (90% in Sudan area and 69% Sudan-Sahel are), high price (65% in Sudan area and 58% Sudan-Sahel area) and productivity (55% in Sudan area and 25% Sudan-Sahel area while in Sahel area guinea fowl are primarily kept for their high sales price (92%) followed by the amount of egg (44%) and productivity (36%). Moreover, breeders in Sudan area, the cultural and ritual reasons prevailed for keeping this specie (40%).
Home consumption and marketing of the guinea fowl products:-According to interviewees, Guinea fowl and eggs were used for breeding (88% and 98% of citation respectively), self-consumption (99% and 97% of citation respectively), sale (93% and 83% of citation respectively) and donations (91% and 94% of citation respectively). Self consumption improves the supply of breeders in animal protein improving their income. Donation allow the maintenance of relationships and social cohesion (90%). The products were sold mainly in the breeder's home (in 80% of cases) and others market in the village (in 60% of cases) in the Sudan and Sahel areas. However, in Sudan-Sahel zone, the poultry products were mainly sold at home (63%) and at the village market (46%). Eggs price was the highest in the Sahel (50.22 FCF ), while that of the guinea fowl was highest in Sudanese zone (2631 FCFA for females and 2675 FCFA for males).

Feed resources and feeding practices
The results of this study show that there is no formal specific feeding practice of guinea fowl in Burkina Faso. Scavenging feeding is practiced by 100% of respondents in the three agro-environmental zones. However, depending on the sampling area, scavenging feeding system is coupled with cereals distribution.
The distributed feed resources include mainly sorghum (68% and 64% respectively for young and adult guinea fowl), millet (60% and 52% respectively for young and adult guinea fowl) and maize (43% and 50% respectively for young and adult). The others feed resources (6%) consist in insect, termites and kitchen wastes.
Foods are distributed two to three times a day especially in the morning upon opening the henhouse, afternoon and/or evening. In Sudan area, foods were mainly distributed in the morning and lunchtime. In Sudan-Sahel and Sahel zones, distribution is made two times a day, in the morning and evening (Table 5).

Diseases and predation:-
Diseases and predation were recorded as the major factor limiting rural household guinea fowl production system in the sampling areas. The most common predators are cats, snakes and eagles. Overall, mortality is mainly related to those two constraints, 94% and 61% respectively for diseases and predation. The associated symptoms reported are mainly drooping wings (73%), somnolence (58%) and tremor (55%) ( Table 6).
Health management:-High percentage of farmers does not offer health interventions to sick Guinea Fowl. But some breeders often use ethno-veterinary medicine based on herbal plants in form of decoctions and infusions merged with drinking water. Mainly breeders in Sahel area, for prophylactic purpose use ethno-veterinary medicine, while breeders in Sudan-10 Sahel and the Sudan areas use modern (conventional) medicine, respectively at 73% and 65% prevent diseases (Table 6).

Constraints in guinea fowl production:-
The main constraints reported in this study were: health care problem (77%), mortality (65%), problem related to breeding techniques (57%) and predators (54%) ( Table 7).  (Table 2). Two main factors representing 21.8% of total variation ( Figure 2) allowed clear discrimination of breeders following those modalities. Axis 1 ( Figure 2) opposes modalities related to intensification (health care, supplementation and semiintensive system) on positive coefficient to those for extensive practices on the negative coefficient. Modalities describing extensive breeding system are associated mainly with breeders in Sahel area, with few experiences in guinea fowl breeding (less than 10 years), animals straying system and absence of shelters for birds (Guinea fowl perch on tree branches). Guinea fowl of these breeders do not benefit from supplements and special health care. These breeders are using ethno-veterinary medicine to treat guinea fowl. Most women of the sample were shown a link with this axis. The last group of modality describing intensive herding is associated with Sudan and Sudan-Sahel breeders with high experience in breeding of guinea fowl (above 10 years). These breeders practice a semistraying system for the most and confined system for only a few parts of these smallholders. They have a shelter for guinea fowl, distribute a feed supplementation and have access to health services. Axis 2 shown a link with variables related to occupation and level of education of breeders. Indeed, in the positive coefficients of this axis, breeders with professional activities other than agriculture and livestock were found with high level of education (secondary and higher). Young breeders (30-50 years) were also found in this group, they have a large flock size of guinea fowl (superior to 100). At the negative coefficient, the professional activities of breeders is mainly agriculture or livestock, they have a low level of education, are elderly and have a small number of guinea fowl.

Hierarchical classification and clusters' description:-
Hierarchical clustering was performed on the 16 variables (Table 6) and allows retaining four clusters ( Figure 3).
The proportions of the modalities that are most represented in different clusters are given in Table 8.
Group 1 (31 breeders) represents the breeders practicing traditional breed system. All Sahel breeders and 71% of women are in this group. The modalities related to extensive system, describe above on axis 1 positive coefficient, best describe this group.
Group 2 (47 breeders) consists of individuals with high level of education (82% of group individuals have a secondary level). Young breeders practicing intensive farming system characterize this group.
Group 3 includes only two individuals with high education level and where the breeding system is intensive in confinement mode.
Group 4 (20 breeders) consists on individuals with high experience in guinea fowl breeding. Those breeders practice feed supplementation and take care to their animals. 88% of farmers in this group have acquired their herd by buying and heritage.

Description of breeders:-
The largest proportion of breeders (55%) in this study was in advanced ages, more than 50 years old and only 45% were between the ages of 30 and 50 years. It appeared that Guinea fowl breeding is mainly dedicated to residents with advanced ages. This observation coincide with that reported by Teye and Adam (2000), thinking that residents under 20 years of age were barred from rearing guinea fowl. The economic condition of young residents in rural area might not allow this category to have their own flocks. However, young breeders are more susceptible to adopt new technologies than advanced age breeders and this could constitute an inconvenient for the production improvement.

11
Results showed that majority of farmers in this study were male (93%). Guinea fowl breeding appeared to be a predominantly male occupation in all three agro-ecological areas of Burkina Faso, linked to socio-economic considerations telling that animal rearing is traditionally male dominated (Bounkoungou, 2005; Saina, 2005; Avornyo et al., 2016). Relative higher proportion of female farmers was found in Sahelian area due to the establishment of an innovative platform on guinea fowl breeding in this area, which takes into account gender issue. These results are in line with those shown before by Dankwa et al. (2000) in West Mamprusi district of Ghana. This is congruous also to the submission of Gueye (1998) who reported that approximately 70% of guinea fowl were under the control of women in rural Sub-Saharan Africa.
However, those results are in contrast with the case of Zimbabwe, where about 89% of surveyed farmers were female (Ndiweni, 2013).
Most of the farmers interviewed (59%) had no formal education. The estimate given by Teye and Adam (2000) was very similar, about 60%. Also, about 81% of respondents received no training in poultry and guinea fowl breeding. The results suggested that guinea fowl production was still largely the occupation of illiterates' farmers and training in breeding is highly needed to improve breeding practices as noted by Kwesisi et al. (2015).
Crop production is the main occupation of the interviewed breeders. This covers food needs and constitutes the main source of income for rural families. However, this activity is precarious and dependent to the rainy season and cannot meet farmer's food needs throughout the year. So, guinea fowl rearing could be a good opportunity for rural households to access a source of animal protein (meat and eggs) as well as the potential to generate income through the sale of guinea fowl and/or eggs (Magothe et al., 2012;Yakubu et al., 2013). The intense production periods and sale of Guinea fowl products coincide with the financial needs of farmers for the purchase of food (Idi, 1996).
The main motives for rearing guinea fowl in our study areas, compared to hen was the high amount of egg, the relative best price, meat quality, and productivity. These perceptions of guinea fowl are consistent with scientific literature. Indeed, Bonkoungou (2005) and Sanfo et al. (2007) showed a productivity of 80 to 100 eggs per year with an average of 97 eggs for guinea fowl in Burkina Faso, considering this specie as good layer, compared to local hen, which produce only 50 eggs per year (Hien, 2002). Ikani and Dafwang (2004) in Nigeria and Saina (2005) in Zimbabwe reported that eggs and meat qualities of guinea fowl were higher than those of hen. Baeza et al. (2001) reported higher protein content in guinea fowl meet compared to chicken. A rate of 23% and 21% were reported respectively for guinea fowl and chicken (IEMVT, 1983).
Breeders in this study mentioned a variety of reasons for keeping guinea fowl. The majority of households offers them for sale to solve families' specific needs and consumed during special social events (Somda, 1987). Home consumption was another good reason why village guinea fowls are kept (Nagalo, 1984;Somda, 1987;Yakubu, 2013). The marketing of guinea fowls at the adult stage could be attributed to consumers' preference, and the higher price they attract.

Production systems:-
The semi free range production system practised by the majority of the farmers in this study was similar to the system adopted on village poultry by smallholder farmers in most sub-Saharan African countries (Idi, 1996;Dahouda, 2003;Saina, 2005). This system is widely used in Bangladesh for rearing of chickens (Swan, 1999). However, it is noted that the production system is highly related to the geographic area and this is confirmed by the typology; the free range production system is predominant in Sahelian area (80%). This system is well-known in West Africa is integrated in the poultry rearing system where birds of different age and species scavenge together (Sanfo et al., 2008). Its constitutes an important resource for resource-poor farmers in some countries, especially in developing countries. Improvements in this type of farming are of economic importance, because they involve the entire rural population. These improvements include placing drinking water at the disposal of the birds, and protecting their health.
In semi free range system, there was virtually no appropriate habitat for the protection of guinea fowl. The few shelters encountered in this study, are made with traditional materials (bacon or straw). The major constraint of this housing system is their confinement, poor ventilation with difficulties for cleaning. They are inappropriate and do not provide good protection to guinea fowl against bad weather and predators, that are the main causes of mortality. where 80% of henhouses are built in bacon and 73% with straw in rural areas. In Sahelian zone (graphical representation of modalities on axe1, positive coefficient and cluster 1), individuals were in total freedom in the majority of cases. In this area, the birds do not benefit any shelter and they spend the whole night roosting in trees (Boko, 2004;Dahouda et al., 2007) exposing them to predators and bad weather.

Production management:-
It is shown in this survey that hatching commence during the rainy season. Similar results were obtained by Dahouda et al. (2007).
The incubation of guinea fowl eggs is commonly done naturally. Most smallholder farmers use chicken and duck to hatch guinea fowl eggs, as the guinea hen will often leave the nest after only a few guinea keets hatch (US Department of Agriculture, 1976). This behavior has been observed in Benin (Dahouda et al., 2007) and Burkina Faso (Bonkoungou, 2005). This allowed to improving guinea fowl egg hatchability, by inhibiting their brooding instinct and limit losses of keets as hens take more care of them.
Scavenging, consisting of wide range of flora and fauna (insects, leaves, grains) is the main feeding system under free-range and semi free range guinea fowl production systems in Burkina Faso. The same founding was reported in Zimbabwe (Saina, 2005). Guinea fowl has competitive advantages over chicken as a free ranging bird consuming non-conventional feed that is not used in chicken feeding (Nwagu and Alawa, 1995;Bonkoungou, 2005;Goromela et al., 2006;Dahouda et al., 2007;Pousga, 2009). However, in some cases they received feed supplementation. The main foods distributed in the three areas were sorghum, millet and maize. Similar observations have been reported in Burkina Faso (Bonkoungou, 2005) and Zimbabwe (Saina, 2005). This is different in India (Gawandé, 2007) where the food distributed to guinea fowl is mainly composed of rice. Regarding these observations, it seems that the type of supplementation distributed to guinea fowl depends on the cereal crops of each country. The food is distributed two to three times a day especially in the morning upon opening the henhouse before straying, afternoon and / or evening. Breeders, mainly, those of Sudan and Sudano-Sahelian areas, take more care of the keets by providing supplements termites which are a significant source of protein for guinea fowl. These farmers were filed essentially cluster 3 of typology groups. Practice of supplementation is not a particularity of this study, indeed, Dahouda et al. (2007) showed that a considerable number of breeders in Benin distributed supplements twice daily (37%) or three times a day (33%) and the rest did it occasionally. Principal purpose of food distribution was the domestication of the fowl by creating a habit of behavior.
In traditional poultry farming, diseases have been identified as one of the major constraints affecting productivity. They are caused by inadequate housing system, bad weather conditions and the absence of vaccination (Jagne et al., 1991). Ignorance, poverty and neglection were the reasons given by farmers for the poor vaccine coverage as already reported in Cameroon by Fotsa (2008). The way of treatment vary from one region to another. These observations are supported by the typology. The breeders of the cluster 1 represented by mostly breeders of the Sahel area are opposed to those from other clusters with breeders of Sudan and Sudan-Sahel regarding Health management.
This difference relies in the way of prevention against diseases and treatments of guinea fowl. Farmers in Sudan-Sahel and Sudan area used extensively vaccination as a means of prevention while the Sahel farmers do not vaccinate their animals. Despite this difference, the mortality rates are almost equal in the 3 surveys areas. This latter observation can be explained by the failure to respect vaccination programs (Gawande et al., 2007), the inadequate way to conserve vaccines (Fosta, 2008). In addition, referring to methods of treatment, the Sudan and Sudan-Sahel areas use modern and traditional methods. However, use of modern medication techniques is less in practice Sahel area (cluster1). Gawandé et al. (2007) attribute this difference to non-access to veterinary services due to the distance of the breeders.

Constraints related to raising the guinea fowl:-
In this study, the main constraints were in health problem, high mortality, problem related to breeding techniques and predation. In traditional breeding system, the guinea fowl are in rudimentary shelters during nighttime where there is no care. In this system, poultry should be robust and fairly productive and not requiring special care (Sharma, 2007). Thus, significant progress remains to be made in the three areas to improve health status in order to minimize losses.

13
The high mortality rate of guinea fowl particularly keets, is a major problem and is a source of discouragement for farmers. Dahouda et al. (2007) found during their study that the large losses are recorded during the first month of breeding. These losses would be caused by cold and rain and probably by parasites. According to Le Coz-Douin (1992), the system of thermoregulation of the guinea fowl is ineffective during the first weeks of their life.

Conclusion:-
Guinea fowl is central to many circumstances of socio-cultural, economic and religious of the rural households in Burkina Faso. The breeding of this bird is a socio-economic activity that allows farmers to have animals' protein and incomes. It was clear from our study that this activity present insufficiencies in health level, housing and feeding. These constraints are an obstacle for production development. However, the increase of poultry productivity is an important mean to fight against rural poverty and to meet the needs of producers. For this, technical constraints 20 raised in this study have to be minimized by focusing on the formation of farmers. Genetic can also contribute to the improvement of productivity and for this, a characterization of different populations would be needed.