Introduction

Poultry farming is an important part of agricultural economy in Togo with more than 16 million birds in 2012 (FAO 2015). As in many countries in West Africa, poultry production is divided into two distinct groups: extensive poultry farming that does not keep pace with increasing population consumption and intensive poultry farming which requires technical and financial resources inaccessible to rural farmers. Despite its low productivity, traditional poultry farming contributes significantly to food security, alleviates poverty and serves as a source of employment for disadvantaged groups (Yapi-Gnaoré et al. 2010; Lombo et al. 2011; Chrysostome et al. 2013; Yakubu et al. 2014). One of the major poultry species in Togo is guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), with about 11% of poultry flock (FAO 2015). Guinea fowl is well accepted by consumers for its meat and eggs (Sanfo et al. 2014). Its meat is firmer and tastier than that of chicken, and its egg stores longer because of its exceptionally thick shell (Abdul-Rahman and Adu 2017). Compared with chicken, guinea fowl is economically more attractive in the tropics because it is more rustic and therefore adapts better to traditional farming (Dehoux et al. 1997; Dahouda et al. 2007; Zvakare et al. 2017; Traoré et al. 2018). In spite of this nutritional and socio-economic importance, indigenous guinea fowl remains undervalued in Togo with low production performance. The scarcity of documented information about the characteristics of indigenous guinea fowl production limits actions to improve and develop its husbandry. The aim of this study, therefore, was to gather data on guinea fowl production practices in northern Togo and generate information that could enhance extension and intervention strategies to improve the productivity of guinea fowl.

Materials and methods

Study areas

This study was conducted in northern Togo, specifically in two agroecological zones which were the Dry Savannah zone and Atakora zone (Fig. 1). With 1,085,260 heads of guinea fowl in 2012 (64% of national production), these two zones are the main zones of guinea fowl production in Togo (FAO 2015).

Fig. 1
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Survey site location

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The north of Togo is located between 0° and 1° east longitude and 9° and 11° latitude north.

  • The Dry Savannah zone is located in the extreme north part of the country and includes the seven prefectures of the savannah region (Cinkasse, Tône, Tandjouare, Kpendjal, Kpendjal-ouest, Oti and Oti-Sud) and the prefecture of Keran. The Dry Savannah agroecological zone covers an area of 10,573 km2, and the human population was estimated to be 985,900 inhabitants in 2013 (INSEED 2019). It is a lowland area with a Sudanese climate. Precipitation, concentrated between May and October, oscillates between 1000 and 1100 mm per year with an average of 82 days of rain. The temperature is between 22 and 35 °C, and the average annual relative humidity is 56% (Amey et al. 2014). The vegetation consists of savannah woodland dominated by Andropogon tectorum and Combretum molle, shrubby savannas dominated by Andropogon tectorum and Crotalaria graminicola, dry forests with Anogeissus leiocarpus and Cissus populnea, gallery forests dominated by Pterocarpus santaloïdes and Mitragyna inermis and wooded parks (Démakou 2009). Crop and livestock are the main socio-economic activities in the zone.

  • The Atakora zone covers an area of 9742 km2 and includes six of the seven prefectures of the Kara Region (Kozah, Bassar, Doufelgou, Dankpen, Binah and Assoli). It is an area of mountains with a Sudano-Guinean climate. Annual rainfall varies from 1100 to 1400 mm with an average of 113 days of rain. The temperature oscillates between 21 and 34 °C, and the average annual relative humidity is 63% (Amey et al. 2014). The vegetation is dominated by the Sudanian savanna and open and dry forests (Nabede et al. 2018). Crop and livestock are the main sources of income for the human population estimated to be 711,500 inhabitants in 2013 (INSEED 2019).

Data collection and analysis

A cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and July 2018 in the 14 prefectures of the two agroecological zones of northern Togo. Sampling was performed according to a non-probabilistic method known as “snowball” (Heckathorn 1997). Two villages were selected in each prefecture except two prefectures (with one village and three villages respectively). Three farmers, having each at least 5 adult guinea fowl, were interviewed in each village, except one village where only one farmer was interviewed. A total of 82 farmers (34 in Atakora and 48 in Dry Savannah) from 28 villages were surveyed. Information about farmers’ biodata (location, sex, age, educational level, marital status, reasons for choosing guinea fowl compared with chicken), farm socio-economic status (number of animals, production system, housing, use and marketing of products, selling price), feed management, health management, reproduction management and main constraints were collected.

Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data obtained as numbers and percentages for qualitative variables and means for quantitative variables using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 20. The chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test (Kim 2017) was used to compare the percentages. The independent-sample t test was used to compare the means (Labreuche 2010). The differences were considered significant if the probability was less than 5%. The multivariate analysis method was used to make farmers typology. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) (Escofier and Pagès 2008) was performed on 10 relevant variables using XLSTAT software 2015.4.01.

Results

Characteristics of farmers

The indigenous guinea fowl rearing in Atakora and Dry savannah in northern Togo was practised by several ethnic groups. The Kabye (44.1%), Naouda (20.6%), Konkomba (17.6%) and Peulh (17.6%) ethnic groups were more (p < 0.05) involved in Atakora, while Moba (56.2%) were the most (p < 0.05) represented in Dry Savannah. Almost half (48.9%) of respondents were Animist, followed by Christians (32.5%) and Muslims (18.6%) (Table 1). Men were mostly owners of animals (91.5%) and sold the live guinea fowl (69.4%) and eggs (65.7%) themselves. The role of women and children was limited to feeding and water supply to guinea fowl according to 97.6% and 88.9% of respondents, respectively. The respondents were almost all married (97.9%) and of different age groups with a majority (64.5%) between 30 and 50 years old. A proportion of 33.5% of respondents did not receive any formal education, while 31.0%, 25.4%, 6.1% and 4.0% had secondary, primary, koranic and university education, respectively. Crop production was the main occupation of most of the respondents (78.9%), followed by animal husbandry (17.1%) and teaching (4.0%). The majority (68.4%) of the respondents did not have training in guinea fowl production.

Table 1 Some characteristic traits of guinea fowl farmers surveyed
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The main reasons of preference for rearing guinea fowl to chickens were high market price (100%), egg production performance (89.0%), quality of meat (87.8%), environment adaptation (58.5%) and productivity (57.3%). Overall, about 43% of guinea fowl farmers had 10 to 20 years of experience in guinea fowl rearing. However, in Dry Savannah, 52.1% of respondents had more than 20 years of experience (p < 0.05) in guinea fowl rearing compared with 14.7% in Atakora.

Socio-economic characteristics of farms

As shown in Table 2, it appears that guinea fowl were the main bird species raised in traditional poultry farming in northern Togo. These guinea fowl were raised with chickens and several other animal species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs). The initial stock came mainly from purchase (75.1%) followed by inheritance (16.1%) and gifts (8.8%). However, the mode of acquisition of the birds differed significantly (p < 0.05) according to the agroecological zone. The proportion of birds acquired by gifts was higher in Atakora (17.6%) while that of birds acquired by purchase was higher (p < 0.05) in Dry Savannah (85.4%). The semi-intensive system was the most practised (86.2%), but the extensive system was still a common practice (p < 0.05) in Atakora with 20.6% compared with 2.1% in Dry Savannah. Therefore, the percentage of respondents whose animals spent the nights on tree was higher (p < 0.05) in Atakora (17.6%) than in Dry Savannah (2.1%). However, the majority (88.7%) of farmers offered a poultry house to their birds and these houses were usually built with local materials (mud hut, straw) and rarely cement (Fig. 2). The majority of respondents (73.4%) raised guinea fowl for meat and eggs while 26.6% raised it for eggs, meat and feathers (which were involved in the worship rites). The production of guinea fowl was primarily intended for sale (100%) while that of eggs was more intended for hatching (98.9%). Sales occurred generally in the village market (80.1%). However, the proportion of farmers preferring to deliver their produce in hotels and restaurants or directly to Lome (City capital) than to sell at home or in the village market was higher (p < 0.05) in Atakora (32.4%) than in the Dry Savannah (12.5%). The average market price was 66.3 ± 19.3 F CFA (0.12 ± 0.03 USD) for egg, 1661.7 ± 341.5 F CFA (3.01 ± 0.62 USD) for young guinea fowl and 2994.3 ± 392.0 F CFA (5.41 ± 0.71 USD) for adult guinea fowl. These market prices were higher (p < 0.05) in Atakora than in Dry Savannah.

Table 2 Socio-economic characteristics of farms visited
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Fig. 2
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Examples of poultry houses in northern Togo

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Feed management

All farmers interviewed provided dietary supplements to their guinea fowl, regardless of the age of the birds. However, the frequency and the quantities offered varied according to age of the guinea fowl and according to farmer. Starter diet fed to keets included termites according to 91.4% of respondents and local cereals such as maize (64.2%), rice (48.1%) and sorghum (32.1%). The proportion of farmers offering sorghum to keets was higher (p < 0.05) in Atakora (44.1%) than in Dry Savannah (23.4%) and inversely for rice where the proportions were 59.6% in Dry Savannah and 32.4% in Atakora. The majority of farmers (78.0%) provided dietary supplements to keets three times a day (Fig. 3), and others did it twice a day (14.6%) or ad libitum (7.3%).

Fig. 3
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Frequency of daily dietary supplement distribution by stage of guinea fowl development

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Young guinea fowl and adults were fed mainly around the houses by scavenging. However, they received supplements in form of maize (90.2%) and sorghum (64.6%). The proportion of farmers that fed millet (39.5%) and rice (37.5%) to adult guinea fowl and soybeans (35.4%) to young guinea fowl in Dry Savannah was higher (p < 0.05) than that of Atakora (11.8%, 11.8% and 8.8%, respectively). The feed was generally offered 3 times a day (52.4%) to young guinea fowl and 2 times a day (40.2%) or 3 times a day (39.0%) to adult guinea fowl (Fig. 3).

Health management

The majority of respondents (66.6%) practised hygiene and vaccination as disease prevention methods (Table 3). The main symptoms of diseases varied according to the agroecological zone (p ˂ 0.05). The proportion of diarrhoea and swollen head was higher (p ˂ 0.05) in Dry Savannah (83.3% and 45.8%) than in Atakora (51.5% and 15.2%). Most respondents (68.2%) used both conventional medicinal products and traditional medicine products to treat sick birds. Overall, 28.9% of the respondents administered the guinea fowl treatments themselves. The proportion of farmers administering treatments of guinea fowl themselves was higher (p ˂ 0.05) in Atakora (41.2%) than in Dry Savannah (16.7%). Medicinal plants through leaf or bark extracts were used in both agroecological zones as medicines for guinea fowl. African mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) and red pepper (Capsicum sp.) were more used in Atakora (82.6% and 17.4%, respectively). But in Dry Savannah, shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) and African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) were mostly used (55.2% and 53.6%, respectively).

Table 3 Characteristics of health management of guinea fowl
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Reproduction parameters

Table 4 reveals that male and female guinea fowl reached sexual maturity at 7 months of age with the age at first oviposition of 8 months for female. The female, during rainy season, laid a mean of 128.5 ± 51.2 eggs per year. The natural incubation of eggs was performed by a hen (Gallus gallus) which received 43.6 ± 17.1 hatching eggs per year. The average incubation duration of 27.3 ± 1.6 days was longer (p < 0.05) in Atakora (27.7 ± 1.7 days) than in Dry Savannah (26.9 ± 1.6 days). The hatchability and the mortality of keets reported by farmers were 85.0% and 23.7%, respectively. The lifespan of male and female guinea fowl was 20.3 ± 7.5 months.

Table 4 Reproduction characteristics (mean ± SD)
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Main constraints

For 85.4% of respondents, survivability was the main problem in guinea fowl farming and often caused discouragement. The losses of the birds were mostly related to diseases and predation in both keets and adult guinea fowl (Table 5). The most encountered predators in both agroecological zones were hawks (84.7%) and snakes (65.0%). However, the proportion of snakes and pigs was higher (p < 0.05) in Dry Savannah (80.4% and 17.4%) than in Atakora (44.1% and 2.9%), while the proportion of shrews and dogs was higher (p < 0.05) in Atakora (55.9% and 41.2%) compared with that in Dry Savannah (21.7% and 17.4%).

Table 5 Main constraints
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Typology of guinea fowl farmers

Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was performed on a set of 9 active variables represented by 27 modalities (Table 6). The variable “guinea fowl flock” was introduced as a dependent variable (additional variable) and allowed to characterise the types of individuals possessing one of its three modalities (low, medium or high). These individuals have been grouped under the names: small farmers, medium farmers and great farmers in relation to the size of their guinea fowl flock.

Table 6 Variables and modalities of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA)
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The first two factorial axes of ACM described 53.98% of the total variability. The description of the modalities using their test values on the first two factorial axes made it possible to determine the characteristics of each farmer group (Fig. 4). Only modalities with a test value greater than 2 in absolute value were selected. Thus, the group of great farmers (G1) consisted of crop producers over 50 years of age, without formal education or with a koranic education, having acquired their initial stock of guinea fowl by inheritance and were experts in guinea fowl farming. The medium farmer group (G2) was located in the Dry Savannah zone and consisted of farmers who had received primary education, trained in guinea fowl production, acquired their initial stock of guinea fowl by purchase and had between 50 and 100 hens. The group of small farmers (G3) was located in the Atakora zone and includes people under 50 years of age, with secondary or university education, untrained in guinea fowl production, novices or competents in guinea fowl rearing, having acquired their initial stock by gift and having less than 50 hens.

Fig. 4
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Modalities of the active variables and the additional variable

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Discussion

The findings of the present study showed that indigenous guinea fowl production in northern Togo is predominantly occupied by men. This predominance of men in guinea fowl production could be explained, on the one hand, by socio-cultural considerations of marriage that prevent women from having full control of animals (Issaka and Yeboah 2016). On the other hand, this situation could be attributed to the difficulty of guinea fowl management which often creates conflicts between farmers during capturing and/or collection of eggs in common nests used by the birds, as men are better able to solve conflict friendly than women (Moussa Amadou et al. 2010). Our results are similar to the findings of Issaka and Yeboah (2016) as well as Abdul-Rahman and Adu (2017) who reported that over 97% of guinea fowl farmers in northern Ghana were men. Similar findings were reported in Burkina Faso (Sanfo et al. 2009; Traoré et al. 2018), Côte d’Ivoire (Koné et al. 2017), Niger (Moussa Amadou et al. 2010) and Zimbabwe (Kusina et al. 2012). However, Moreki et al. (2010) reported that in Botswana, women (67.24%) were mainly beneficiaries of guinea fowl projects. This situation, although deliberately oriented towards women, demonstrates that women are also able to raise guinea fowl.

The large variation in the age of guinea fowl owners in the present study is in accordance with previous studies reported in Benin (Dahouda et al. 2007), Ghana (Avornyo et al. 2016; Issaka and Yeboah 2016) and Burkina Faso (Traoré et al. 2018). This demonstrates that young people are also engaged in the production of guinea fowl as income-generating enterprise. However, the low proportion of respondents under 30 years old (9%) indicates that the young below the age of 30 did not have the resources to have their own flock. The proportion of farmers without formal education in the present study was much lower than that observed in Ghana (Avornyo et al. 2016; Abdul-Rahman and Adu 2017) and Burkina Faso (Traoré et al. 2018) where more than half (59 to 80%) of respondents did not have any formal education. Nevertheless, this high rate of illiteracy, which is not peculiar to guinea fowl production, is a potential disadvantage for large-scale production of guinea fowl because of its negative influence on the adoption of new technologies (Issaka and Yeboah 2016; Mugumaarhahama et al. 2016).

The main activity of guinea fowl producers is crop production as reported by Traoré et al. (2018) in Burkina Faso. This could be explained by the fact that crop production fills the daily food needs of the family and also generates significant monetary income (Ould Ahmed and N’Daw 2015; Traoré et al. 2018). Additionally, guinea fowl production is a source of animal protein and a short-term financial reserve for urgent expenses. With almost 20 years of experience, guinea fowl farmers in northern Togo have indigenous knowledge which deserve to be exploited. The late start of Atakora farmers in guinea fowl production could be linked to the high relative humidity (63%) of this agroecological zone which is unfavourable to the guinea fowl production, especially for the keets’ management.

There is a large disparity in respondent flock size, and this could be linked to the level of skill and experience of guinea fowl farmers. The average size of guinea fowl flock in this study was higher than that reported in several countries in West Africa: Burkina Faso (Sanfo et al. 2009), Côte d’Ivoire (Koné et al. 2017), Ghana (Avornyo et al. 2016; Abdul-Rahman and Adu 2017), Niger (Moussa Amadou et al. 2010) and Nigeria (Yakubu et al. 2014) as well as in some countries of Southern Africa: Botswana (Moreki et al. 2010) and Zimbabwe (Kusina et al. 2012; Zvakare et al. 2017) which varies from 6 to 57 guinea fowl per flock. The acquisition of initial stocks by purchase and the semi-intensive system have also been reported in Nigeria (Yakubu et al. 2014) and in Burkina Faso (Traoré et al. 2018). This study showed that guinea fowl were primarily intended for sale while eggs were mostly intended for incubation. Indeed, Sanfo et al. (2009) reported in Burkina Faso that guinea fowl and eggs were primarily intended for sale while Traoré et al. (2018) noted that the first destination of guinea fowl was consumption and that of eggs was incubation. Sales were often done to solve the specific needs of families (medical expenses, tuition fees, etc.). Although mainly raised for profit, guinea fowl and its eggs improve the nutritional status of families by providing a source of protein and also playing an important role in social relations through gifts. The high proportions of eggs allocated for incubation observed in this study show the commitment of the farmers to sustain guinea fowl production.

Special care was given to keets which were supplemented with termites and local cereals (maize, sorghum, rice), mainly three times a day. Although young and adult guinea fowl were fed around the houses, they also received local cereals (maize, sorghum) two or three times a day. These results are similar to those reported by Issaka and Yeboah (2016) in Ghana, which reveal that despite different levels of supplementation, 71.7% of farmers feed their guinea fowl three times a day with termites (only for keets) and/or cereals such as sorghum and maize. Similar observations were reported in Benin (Dahouda et al. 2007), Nigeria (Yakubu et al. 2014), Burkina Faso (Traoré et al. 2018), Ghana (Avornyo et al. 2016; Abdul-Rahman and Adu 2017), Côte d’Ivoire (Koné et al. 2017) and Zimbabwe (Kusina et al. 2012; Zvakare et al. 2017). However, our results are contrary to the observation of Moussa Amadou et al. (2010) in Niger who reported that adult guinea fowl did not receive complementary diet. Supplementation, which was done at the discretion of each farmer, did not consider the quantity or quality of feed (Koné et al. 2017; Zvakare et al. 2017). Its main purpose was to domesticate and keep the birds around the houses.

Although hygiene and vaccination were important practices in the control of guinea fowl diseases in northern Togo, birds often showed symptoms of diseases that are treated with conventional veterinary products and traditional medicine. The enthusiasm of farmers for ethno-veterinary practices has been reported in some countries such as Ghana and Nigeria through the use of neem, locust bean and mahogany bark (Yakubu et al. 2014; Abdul-Rahman and Adu 2017) and in Zimbabwe with the use of Aloe (Zvakare et al. 2017) as drugs for guinea fowl. Old practices relating to the use of traditional medicine are still relevant because of the low revenue of farmers and their distance from urban centres. Nevertheless, the use of traditional medication still has its drawback in most cases due to non-precise diagnosis and medication dosage (Hien et al. 2005). Therefore, it would be necessary to verify the effectiveness of these ethno-veterinary plants in order to validate for a better recommendation (Nyoni and Masika 2012).

The findings in this study for the sexual maturity age of the male and female (7.1 ± 1.3 months and 7.2 ± 1.3 months, respectively) were less than 8 months (32 weeks) in Niger as reported by Moussa Amadou et al. (2010) and partially corroborates that of Sanfo et al. (2009) who noted a difference in the sexual maturity age of male (6.2 ± 0.6 months) and female (7.1 ± 1.8 months) in Burkina Faso. The female age at first oviposition obtained in this study (8.4 months) was higher than 7.2 months (29 weeks) reported in Ghana (Issaka and Yeboah 2016) and 7.6 ± 1.7 months reported in Burkina Faso (Sanfo et al. 2009). However, it was less than 9 ± 2 months reported in Zimbabwe (Kusina et al. 2012). Our findings showed that guinea fowl had seasonal reproduction and lay eggs mainly during the rainy season when feed resources are relatively abundant. A similar observation has been made by several authors with egg quantities ranging from 80 to 120 eggs per year (Sanfo et al. 2009; Moussa Amadou et al. 2010; Kusina et al. 2012; Yakubu et al. 2014; Zvakare et al. 2017). Issaka and Yeboah (2016) reported quantities of eggs laid from 252 to 300 eggs per year in Ghana. However, it should be noted that several guinea fowl females, sometimes of different owners, can share the same nest whose eggs are collected and/or prone to predation and theft. According to Issaka and Yeboah (2016), guinea fowl raised near large water bodies would be able to lay continuously throughout the year due to temperature conditions. Some farmers also indicated that guinea fowl were able to lay outside the laying season if they were well fed. The guinea fowl laying capacity would therefore be influenced by environment and diet. The indigenous hen was the predominant mode of incubation of guinea fowl eggs with an average hatchability of 85%. This result was similar to the hatchability reported in Benin (Dahouda et al. 2007) and Niger (Moussa Amadou et al. 2010). However, it was higher than those of other countries (between 64 and 75%) such as Burkina Faso (Sanfo et al. 2009), Zimbabwe (Kusina et al. 2012), Nigeria (Yakubu et al. 2014) and Ghana (Issaka and Yeboah 2016). Keet mortality of 23.7% obtained in this study was lower than that reported in Benin (Dahouda et al. 2007), in Zimbabwe (Kusina et al. 2012) and in Côte d’Ivoire (Koné et al. 2017) which varied between 40 and 48%. However, this mortality was higher than the 17% reported in Nigeria (Yakubu et al. 2014). The lower mortality obtained could be attributed to the different management used by the farmers to protect the keets. Despite this, the main cause of flock losses remains diseases and predation as has also been observed in Niger (Moussa Amadou et al. 2010), Nigeria (Yakubu et al. 2014), Ghana (Issaka and Yeboah 2016), Zimbabwe (Zvakare et al. 2017) and Burkina Faso (Traoré et al. 2018).

Conclusion

This survey showed that guinea fowl is the main poultry species traditionally raised in northern Togo. The management system practised was the semi-intensive system dominated by men, mostly crop producers and without any formal education. The diet was characterised by supplementation with local cereals (mainly maize and sorghum) to both keets and adult guinea fowl with varying quantities and frequencies of access. Conventional veterinary products and ethno-veterinary plants were used as medicines for guinea fowl. The poor production performances and the main constraints identified were similar to those reported in most developing countries.

Although indigenous guinea fowl farming is a secondary activity with low productivity, it plays an important socio-economic role for rural families and deserves special attention. The farmers’ indigenous knowledge, particularly for ethno-veterinary plants, must be controlled by subsequent investigations for their best use. A better knowledge of the indigenous guinea fowl, through a phenotypic, molecular and performance characterisation, is necessary for a better optimisation of its genetic potential. This will consolidate its contribution, not only to the achievement of food self-sufficiency but also to the fight against poverty.