Poultry production is an important way of enhancing the livelihoods of rural populations, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). As poultry production in LMICs remains dominated by backyard systems with low inputs and low outputs, considerable yield gaps exist. Intensification can increase poultry productivity, production and income. This process is relatively recent in LMICs compared to high-income countries. The management practices and the constraints faced by smallholders trying to scale-up their production, in the early stages of intensification, are poorly understood and described. We thus investigated the features of the small-scale commercial chicken sector in a rural area distant from major production centres. We surveyed 111 commercial chicken farms in Kenya in 2016. We targeted farms that sell the majority of their production, owning at least 50 chickens, partly or wholly confined and provided with feeds. We developed a typology of semi-intensive farms. Farms were found mainly to raise dual-purpose chickens of local and improved breeds, in association with crops and were not specialized in any single product or market. We identified four types of semi-intensive farms that were characterized based on two groups of variables related to intensification and accessibility: (i) remote, small-scale old farms, with small flocks, growing a lot of their own feed; (ii) medium-scale, old farms with a larger flock and well located in relation to markets and (iii) large-scale recently established farms, with large flocks, (iii-a) well located and buying chicks from third-party providers and (iii-b) remotely located and hatching their own chicks. The semi-intensive farms we surveyed were highly heterogeneous in terms of size, age, accessibility, management, opportunities and challenges. Farm location affects market access and influences the opportunities available to farmers, resulting in further diversity in farm profiles. The future of these semi-intensive farms could be compromised by several factors, including the competition with large-scale intensive farmers and with importations. Our study suggests that intensification trajectories in rural areas of LMICs are potentially complex, diverse and non-linear. A better understanding of intensification trajectories should, however, be based on longitudinal data. This could, in turn, help designing interventions to support small-scale farmers.

家禽生产是改善农村人口生计的重要途径，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家（LMIC）。由于中低收入国家的家禽生产仍然以后院系统为主，投入低、产出低，存在相当大的产量差距。集约化可以提高家禽生产力、产量和收入。与高收入国家相比，这一过程在中低收入国家相对较新。在集约化的早期阶段，小农试图扩大生产的管理实践和所面临的限制很少被理解和描述。因此，我们调查了远离主要生产中心的农村地区小规模商业鸡肉行业的特征。2016 年，我们对肯尼亚 111 个商业养鸡场进行了调查。我们的目标是出售大部分产品、拥有至少 50 只鸡的农场，部分或全部饲养鸡并提供饲料。我们开发了半集约化农场的类型。农场主要饲养当地和改良品种的两用鸡，与农作物结合使用，不专门从事任何单一产品或市场。我们根据与集约化和可达性相关的两组变量确定了四种类型的半集约化农场：（i）偏远、小规模的老农场，羊群较少，自己种植大量饲料；(ii) 中等规模的老农场，拥有较大的鸡群，且位置优越，与市场相关；(iii) 最近建立的大型农场，拥有大量鸡群，(iii-a) 位置优越，从第三方供应商购买雏鸡(iii-b) 位于偏远地区并孵化自己的雏鸡。我们调查的半集约化农场在规模、历史、可达性、管理、机遇和挑战方面存在很大差异。农场位置影响市场准入并影响农民可获得的机会，从而导致农场概况进一步多样化。这些半集约化农场的未来可能会受到多种因素的影响，包括与大规模集约化农民和进口产品的竞争。我们的研究表明，中低收入国家农村地区的集约化轨迹可能是复杂的、多样化的和非线性的。然而，对强化轨迹的更好理解应基于纵向数据。反过来，这可以帮助设计支持小农的干预措施。