Breeding and development of dairy goats: eastern Africa experience

Abstract

Presently, there are over two billion people globally affected by the scourge of hunger and poverty, most of them being in sub-Saharan Africa. The challenge is to ensure food and nutrition security for them, and one option is the promotion of goat farming. Goat genetic resources play an important socio-economic role in many rural parts of the world. Dairy goats occupy a unique and significant niche in resource-limited smallholder farming systems in the high potential areas of the tropics and subtropics due to their potential to greatly improve livelihoods largely through provision of milk for home consumption and surplus for sale to raise income. Besides, they supply meat, skins, fibre and manure, and play intangible roles like being insurance against emergencies and as an investment in stock. Consequently, numerous projects have adopted the use of dairy goats as an intervention strategy in improving the livelihood of the disadvantaged in various communities in eastern Africa. Community participation, breeding practices, comparative advantage, institutional aspects, extension services and environmental interactions are some of the suggested factors that can impact on the success to which most organizations need to note before embarking upon development initiatives that target the use of dairy goats.