Perceptions of households on purpose of keeping, trait preference, and production constraints for selected goat types in Ethiopia

Abstract

A study was carried out to understand the needs and perception of goat keepers in selected areas of Ethiopia in order to identify the breeding objectives, traits of preference, and production constraints that may be required in designing improvement programs. The study was conducted in three districts (Bati, Meta, and Kebri-Beyah) representing the lowland crop-livestock (LLCL), highland cereal-livestock (HLCL), and pastoral/agropastoral (P/AP) systems, respectively. The study targeted the three goat types (Bati, Hararghe Highland, and Short-eared Somali) found in Ethiopia. Households in all systems considered meat production, milk production, and income generation as major purpose of keeping goats. However, those in the low rainfall and arid environments of P/AP systems gave high ranking to adaptability to harsh environments and also to building social and religious values. In LLCL and HLCL systems, goat skin and manure were more valued than in P/AP systems. Principally, in P/AP systems, the awareness of households to skin utilization and marketing was very low. Despite diverse multiple breeding objectives identified, household breeding practices were affected by constraints related to disease prevalence, feed shortage and water scarcity, and lack of awareness on skin management, utilization, and marketing. Thus, designing and implementing of sustainable goat improvement programs is an overriding priority and should take into account the breeding objectives and knowledge of goat keepers in all production systems. Along with the breed improvement, a strategy should also be devised to enhance the utilization and marketing of goat skin at all levels of production.

Husbandry practices and phenotypic characteristics of indigenous goat populations in Ethiopia

“…The availability of water was not consistent particularly in the dry season. This also enforced the animals to stay for about three days without water as found in this study and also reported by Tadesse et al (2013). According to Urge (2007), Short-eared Somali goats deprived water for about three days in dry season showed 22% milk yield reduction as compared to goats with water access every day.…”

“…In Ethiopia, farmers/pastoralists kept goats for food, income generation, socio-cultural considerations and source of other valuable non-food products such as skin and manure (Tsegaye, 2009;Gebreyesus, 2010;Tadesse et al, 2013). Despite the large size, wide distribution and diversified functions, the Ethiopian goat population productivity is relatively low.…”

Socio-economic Aspects of Goat Production in a Rural Agro-pastoral System of Uganda

“…Information on the importance of goats to farmers is key in the success of breeding, health and feeding interventions in the tropics [4,17]. In this study, majority of the respondents ranked cash income as the most important reason for keeping goats.…”

“…The findings of the present study are in agreement with those of Hassen and Tesfaye [1] in Ethiopia and Semakula et al [2] in Uganda who reported cash income as the most important in goat farming followed by other tangible and intangible benefits. Income from goats is of utmost importance to sustain human nutrition and education for small-scale farmers [4]. Socio-cultural values were ranked second indicating the value of livestock in the cultural settings of rural communities.…”

“…They are also a source of intangible benefits, e.g. savings, insurance, and for socio-cultural purposes [3,4]. An estimated 39% of households in Uganda are known to own goats, which further demonstrates the importance of goats in the livelihoods of the people [5].…”