African Goat Improvement Network: Community-Based Breeding Programs for Sustainable Genetic Improvement

Goats are a critical component of smallholder farming in Africa.  Their small size makes them relatively easy to acquire and maintain while their browsing habit means they are particularly well suited to the marginal crop regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, goats have the fastest growth rate of all livestock species in many regions.  However, indigenous goats, while adapted to local climate and disease pressures, are not nearly as productive as their European counterparts.  Past efforts to improve productivity have focused on a strategy to replace or crossbreed indigenous goats with imported breeds.  Research has shown that this type of intervention may offer short term gains but frequently fail in the long run.  Community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) may be a better solution.  CBBPs organized around the principle of improving indigenous genetics through breeding and selection have been proven to be the best way to obtain permanent gains.  To this end, we are establishing a total of four CBBPs in Uganda and Malawi through the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) with collaboration of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU).  In preparation for developing locally individualized breeding strategies we are collecting genotype and phenotype data from different goat breeds across Africa.  Our initial results suggest that there are very strong geographic influences to population structure, and that inbreeding may be an issue to contend with in certain breeding populations.