Research shows that Newcastle disease (ND) is the major constraint to chicken production in rural areas in Mozambique, causing mortalities of 50 to 100 percent of birds annually. Training of women in village poultry husbandry, particularly in health management is of paramount importance if the productivity of the birds is to be raised significantly. Household level poultry production has proven to be an activity which can contribute substantially to household food and nutrition security through direct consumption of meat and eggs as well as through improvement of household income. Farmers, usually women, are interested in increasing their poultry stocks and improve their rearing techniques on condition that appropriate vaccination against ND is available.

ND control activities in village chickens in Mozambique commenced in 1996 with a research project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and implemented by the Mozambican National Veterinary Research Institute (INIVE), in collaboration with the National Directorate for Livestock and the National Directorate for Rural Extension. The project involved: laboratory testing of the thermotolerant vaccine I-2; field testing of the vaccine; the development of appropriate extension material; and attention to cost-recovery and cost minimisation issues. The use of thermotolerant ND vaccine is essential due to the difficult conditions in rural Mozambique where the cold chain is often absent or unreliable. The I-2 ND vaccine performed well under these adverse conditions. ACIAR provided the I-2 ND vaccine master seed free of charge to INIVE to enable local production of a ND vaccine suitable for use in village chickens. However, it became apparent that to make ND control activities sustainable, attention had to also be given to social and economic aspects of the work. Linkages with communities were facilitated by collaboration with NGOs such as VETAID, World Vision and Heifer Project International.