author(s)
Amol D Adbhai, Amit Kumar Singh, Dnyaneshwari S Bhand, Prashant Kumar, Shrikant Ghorpade and Vinayak Patil

abstract
Similar to animal husbandry, Indian villages have acquired skill of backyard poultry farming as alternative poultry production for their livelihood. Small, marginal, landless labors, tribal and vulnerable section of people in the countryside mostly refer to these colored indigenous birds. Many varieties of colorful indigenous fowls exist in the hands of the tribes. In spite of low productivity and broodiness, these birds are widely accepted by the rural poor due to low inputs, minimum care, social, ethical and economic factors. However, some Indian and International organizations have worked in this area and the work is still in progress. The future scope of village poultry production is very much promising as it addresses more than 70% of the rural mass. It is high time to approach these groups with a package of practices acceptable to them so that they could become able to produce both eggs and meat in the rural sector with least expenditure. Systematic and scientific assistance is required to make this sector viable, profitable and to lift them from the vicious cycle of poverty & malnutrition. This review paper throws light on aspects on such alternative poultry production.