Eggs have high potential for improving nutrition outcomes in low-income countries, yet very few children in such settings consume eggs on a regular basis despite widespread poultry ownership. To redress this disconnect, a number of interventions have been implemented to improve household production of poultry products, as well as caregiver awareness of the nutritional benefits of eggs and other animal-sourced foods. However, very few of these interventions have tried to leverage food markets to improve nutrition, even though most rural people predominantly rely on markets for the majority of their non-staple food consumption. This study was implemented to better understand the constraints to purchasing eggs for consumption by young children in rural Ethiopia, with a view to informing the design of marketoriented interventions that might cost-effectively increase children’s egg consumption. To do so we analyzed secondary datasets on poultry ownership, household and child egg consumption, and retail egg prices to understand egg markets and the egg value chain in Tigray. Similar to other contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, we find that two-thirds of households own poultry, though only onequarter of young children consumed eggs in the past 24 hours. Although markets in Tigray are well integrated – likely because of the important role of egg aggregators – egg prices remain high. A modest consumption level of 2.5 eggs per person per week would cost around 10 percent of the total budget of households in the poorest quintile of households, even though eggs are more affordable than other animal-sourced foods. We find that egg consumption among young children is not constrained by fasting associated with Orthodox Christianity. High prices are likely the main constraint and are a function of low levels of intensification in egg production, which is dominated by backyard poultry systems characterized by high mortality rates and low productivity.

"The poultry production systems of Africa are mainly based on the scavenging indigenous chickens found in virtually all villages and households in rural Africa. These systems are characterized by low output per bird. Nevertheless, over 70 percent of the poultry products and 20 percent of animal protein intake in most African countries come from this sector. Therefore, increased rural poultry production would result in a positive impact on household food security both in increased dietary intake and in income generation. ... This study coincided with the World Food Summit, held at FAO, Rome, from 13 to 17 November 1996, where delegations committed their governments and civil society to a global attack on food insecurity and poverty. Poultry, like other short-cycle animal stock, is viewed by the FAO Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) as a crucial element in the struggle for sustained food production and poverty alleviation. The guidelines provided in this study are particularly pertinent to those countries participating in the SPFS where village chicken production will have a substantial impact on increased household food security and gender equity."--Foreword.

A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.

The meat of wild species, referred to in this report as ‘wild meat’, is an essential source of protein and a generator of income for millions of forest-living communities in tropical and subtropical regions. However, unsustainable harvest rates currently