Development of management practices for sustainable improvement of indigenous goats in Tanzania

In recent years exotic breeds and crossbred goats of the indigenous breeds and some European breeds (mainly dairy goats) have been distributed in rural areas of Tanzania to increase goat productivity and alleviate poverty. However, the distribution of these breeds has been carried haphazardly without taking into consideration the environmental conditions in rural areas. No efforts have been done to match the genotype with the right environment. On the other hand, efforts for searching for appropriate feeding regimes that are both economical and sustainable have also been sought with varying achievements in the diverse farming systems. However, more is still needed in ensuring that exotic breeds and crossbred goats receive proper feeding or supplementation strategies under farmers’ conditions. This project will assess the existing goat breeding programmes and institutions in the country, with a view of strengthening them and make them more effective to sustainably carry out the genetic improvement of goats. The project will evaluate the biological performance and profitability of the breeds introduced in semi-arid areas and identify the reasons for success and failure of goat improvement programmes in the villages. The project will also develop a simple recording scheme and introduce it to goat keepers in rural areas for utilization in genetic evaluation. In addition, this project will develop quality and cost-effective feed rations based on locally available feed resources that can be used to feed improved goat breeds in rural areas. Furthermore, the project will train small-scale goat farmers to formulate good quality rations using indigenous tree and shrub leaf meals and pods as protein supplements to replace conventional oil cake supplements.