Smallholder poultry production is practised by most rural households throughout the developing world; despite the fact that its contribution to livelihoods appears to be of little nominal value when observed by researchers and other outsiders. This paper utilizes a Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to review how smallholder poultry contributes to households and livelihoods. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework emphasizes the vulnerability context of rural livelihoods and the need to consider many types of “capital” in the analysis of livelihoods. The paper finds that social-capital aspects of smallholder poultry productionhave been given little attention in research and or in development projects. Poultry has played, and still plays, important social and cultural roles in the life of rural people, not least for building social relations with other villagers. While income and consumption have been considered the main rationale for keeping village poultry, the methodologies applied in identifying the contribution of poultry keeping to income and food security does not permit a comparison of findings across the reviewed material. The review confirms the widely recognized contribution of smallholder poultry keeping to the income and internal
household position of women. Institutional structures are not favourable to smallholder poultry production. The interventions that could enhance productivity are well recognized, but the animal health services needed to promote these interventions are, in general, poorly developed. Models for
developing animal health services for smallholders are also well known, but the regulatory reforms needed are not implemented. The outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influxenza (HPAI) resulted in policies and regulations that have significant impact on the future structure of poultry production and trade. Although it is too early to assess the long-term effects of HPAI on the poultry industry, there are emerging signs of restructuring – with a
shift away from small-scale commercial production towards larger-scale production. Village production is, however, likely to persist.