Indigenous chickens are a familiar sight in villages and backyards across Africa. Their production makes a vital contribution to rural economies, providing a source of supplementary income as well as meat and eggs for domestic consumption, particularly important for resource-poor households.

Traditionally reared in low-input systems and adapted to harsh condition, indigenous chickens account for a huge proportion of all the poultry reared in Africa. Despite the huge production volume, production systems underperform, services are fragmented and value chains are informal. Set against a context of climate change, enormous scope exists for interventions across the entire sector.

This is where the INCIP project came in. A team of experienced researchers from Kenya, Malawi, and the Netherlands took on a broad programme of technical challenges in a range of topics from IC ecotype improvement and breeding programmes, through feeding regimes, disease control, and waste for biogas, to mobile information and marketing platforms. Combining their technological advances with outreach, training and academic networking, the INCIP team has made important inroads to bringing about sector-wide transformation for improved rural livelihoods.