Opportunities, Challenges and
Prospects for Dairy Goat
Improvement by the Poor: The
Kenyan Experience
Okeyo A. Mwai
Workshop on Integrated Dairy Goat and Root Crop
Production in Tanzania
ILRI, Nairobi, June 19-2013

Outline
• Introductory remarks
• Opportunities
• Prospects
• Challenges
• Conclusions

Introductory remarks
• Except for rinderpest eradication thro vaccination,
successful livestock improvement that does NOT
involve breed improvement is hard to find
• Genetic improvement provide the building blocks,
and offer huge potential, but:
– the design must be right
– adequate time and capacity
• Dairy goat improvements in the region started >
60 years ago, but not much progress made so far!
• Cross breeding Vs within-breed selection?

Opportunities
• Diverse genetic base created by
differential natural & artificial
selection (scope for improvement
and poverty reduction)
• Demand for goat products high &
increasing
Good prices: US$300/goat
youghurt: US$ 1.1/0.25litre
• Several admix populations
available, including those with
exotic commercial breeds
composition
• Genomic tools & ICT available
• Huge existing results & knowledge,
systems to tap into
http://dagris.ilri.cgiar.org

Prospects
• Huge potential for both within-breed
selection and cross-breeding
• Good crossbreeding needs to:
- start with good foundations
- focus on the right traits (meat& milk)
- have right design
- practice selection alongside crossbreeding

Why cross-breeding?
• New genetics is attractive
• Quick dramatic improvement so “ inspires”
• Triggers management improvements to support
(farmer-managed) breed improvement
• Virtuous spiral breed improvement->
management improvement->improved
production (money)>breed improvement-
>management improvement and so on….
• But many wrong crossbreeding designs are
seen every where!

Right design
• Appropriate targeting, sampling & targeting
• Organizational, institutional capacities
– Farmers capacity, empowerment
– Policy makers-supportive policies
• Sustainability:
– technical considerations (the right science & all disciplines)
– The associated value chain development (market & input
services etc)

Components of a breeding
programme
Source; Philipsson et al., 2011

The FARM-Africa Goat Model - components
• Community-based and managed breed
improvement
Supported by
• Private veterinary system
• Group structure to manage all inputs
• Breeders’ Association to manage breeding
• All key inputs in hands of farmers

Beyond the Initial Supply of Breeding Stock: The
FARM Africa Dairy Goat Model
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%

The Dispersed Nuclei Goat improvement design
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
NEW BUCK STATION NEW BREEDING UNIT
GROUP BREEDING UNIT
4 Females + 1 Buck
[Several Dispersed]
OFFSPRING
50%M 50%F
BUCKS DOES
Sold
Weaned
Surplus
Surplus
2%
10%
10%5%
FARMER ORG.

FARM-Africa Goat Model
Tested in 4 countries over 19 years

Pressures for intensification/
specialisation
• External pressures in
smallholder systems
– Crop yields plateau
– Land holdings shrink and
fragment
– Cash crop prices
stagnate/decline
– Unreliable support services
to cattle
– =Huge desire by farmers
to start intensive goat
production

Housing Forage

Farmer-managed breed
improvement
• Crossbreeding local
goats with Toggenburg
bucks in community-
managed buck
stations
• Replacement bucks
bred from group
managed breeding
units

Direct benefits – use of income
• Education
• House improvement
• Investment in farm
• Hospital bills
• Food
• Re-investment in goat
enterprise

Direct benefits - products
• Milk F1 2-3 litres/day 6-8
mths lactation
• Milk F2 75% Togg 3-4
litres/day
• Selling surplus milk
• Goats houses – manure,
urine, waste feed –> crop
land some farmers -> export
veg out-growers
• Local slaughter sale meat

Impact – e.g. Mr Kinoti from Meru
Kenya
• Casual labourer
• Received two goats
• Buck keeper ->
• Now owns 2ha land
• Bought oxen for contract
ploughing
• Daughters to school
• Sons starting business in
town

Example of a new type of farmers
organisation:Meru Goat Breeders Assoc’n
• Manage breeding
stock
• Breed registration
• Market breeding stock
• Organise goat shows
& training

Options for MGBA financial viability
1. Increase prices of all
services
2. Increase members
3. Milk collection and
marketing
4. Milk processing
5. Goat slaughterhouse

Private veterinary system
• Farmers trained as
‘barefoot vets’
(CAHW’s) supplied by
veterinary assistants
running small drug
shops
• Backstopped by
qualified private
veterinarian

Even the poorest can produce milk
for home and sale
How about special goat meat
meat cuts in super markets?

Performance Kenya1996-to-date
Item Meru Kitui
Bucks stations 162 in project area + 42+
Members 4870 930
Crossbreds 100,000+
Breeding units 128
No households
(direct)
8,235 ?
No of upgrade &
purebred
Toggenburgs
54000 4504

• High mortality rates (> 7 %)
• Too small herd sizes or too large herds, but too
mobile
• High transaction costs associated with inputs,
breeding, access t animal health & market
services
• Low incentives to invest in technology (AI)
• Poor supportive organizational & institutional
frameworks to support performance recording
• Undeveloped value chains
Challenges

Why is the Goat Model successful
• Addressed real need
• Inspiring ! (Fire from within)
• Locally appropriate approach
• Scale (small (25 group member units so is
manageable)
• Comprehensive/synchronised services
• Limited continuing external inputs
• Financially viable (encourage savings)

Some conclusions
• Design need to be appropriate with long term focus
• Most failures are organizational and institutional
• Policy need to be supportive
• Flexibility is needed (it does have to be a purebreed so long as
it produces adequate milk, grows fasta nd is well adapted)
• National & regional networks needed to ensure:
– sustainable improvement (effective breeding population size)
– Community of practice
– exchange of breeding stock/ideas
• Selection, formal genetic evaluation and farmer organization
necessary
• Business approach/model for delivery of dairy goat genetics
needed

Thank you