Sheep and Goat Improvement ProgramsEthiopian experience

Ayele Abebe, EIAR

7th Africa Agriculture Science Week, Kigali, Rwanda, 13-16 June 2016

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Ethiopia is a land of diversity

With 18 different agro ecologies

Rich and hosts several flora and fauna

Introduction

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Introduction cont’d

•Ethiopia has an estimated population of 27.3 million sheep and 28.2 million goats (CSA, 2014)

•Are distributed in all agro-ecological areas of the country.

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Introduction cont’d

o Sheep and goat are important for the farmers and pastoralists (sources of livelihood)

o Apart from their role at HH and communal level, small

ruminants have national importance as they provide

for about 46% of the national meat consumption,

58% of the value of hide and skin production (Kassahun et

al., 1991) and significant amount of export earnings

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• Unlike improved breeds elsewhere, most of the indigenous breeds are not selected for their production performance.

• Gross off-take rates were estimated to range from 10 to 35% for sheep and 11 to 38% for goats

• While commercial off-take rates were in the range of 6 to 22% for sheep and 7 to 18% in goats (MoA, 1985; Belete 2009; Belachew and Jemberu, 2003; Mohammad et al., 2007; Asfaw and Jabbar, 2008

Introduction cont’d

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Introduction cont’d

The principal constraints are:

o Diseases and parasites, o Poor nutrition (quality and quantity), o Unimproved genetic potential of local breeds, o Poor marketing infrastructure and access to markets,o Minimal institutional and support services, and o Poor access to and sub-optimal utilization of knowledge,

information and technologies (Markos 2000; Tsedeke 2007; Gizaw et al., 2013).

The influence of these constraints is manifested through reduced reproductive efficiency, high mortality, slower growth rate of survivors, low off take rate and return.

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Current status

To narrow the gap in productivity of sheep and Goat

• Research projects were initiated and implemented

crossbreeding has been applied on a number of sheep and goat breeds in the country.

Cross breeding in sheep and goats was not successful

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• The adoption of results generated from past research endeavors has been negligible and the impact on the overall production and productivity level is hardly notable

Efforts was made to improve indigenous sheep by selection (on-station),

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• Improving local sheep through selective breeding

On 3 breeds (Menz, Afar and Horro)

• Establishment of elite nucleus flock for Menz sheep– Promising result was obtained from on-station selection

program for Menz sheep

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Trend of genetic improvement for Menz sheep under selection program

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Currently born lambs from Menz selection program on-station

Current status

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Current status

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• Past failures prompted research on the design of alternative community based breeding programs.

• For instance, village-based cooperative/community breeding programs have now been established for Menz, Horro and Bonga sheep breeds

The ILRI/ICARDA and Boku University came with the idea of community based breeding programs in the Ethiopia

o It is a kind of value chain approach where by which the focus is from farm to fork

Current status

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Current status

Appreciable genetic improvement has been achieved in the Menz program (DARGEGN VILLAGE)

• Body weights at birth, 3 and 6 months of age increased by:

• 0.42, 2.29 and 2.46 kg, respectively, in the third generation over those in the base generation.

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Current status

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Menz sheep in a community based

breeding

Current status

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Current status

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Role of ILRI/ICARDA

Approach of community based breeding programs:• Adopted value chain approach

Organization Breeding Feeds and feeding systems Health interventions Marketing Input supply

• Participatory research (research and development at a time)• Animal identification• Farmers’ preference• Recording• Selection• Culling

We work together from planning to implementation of the CBBP

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Because of the results obtained from the CBBP the Government of Ethiopia:

• Took it as a best practice

• Allocated budget from the national system and start implementation• In GTP 2,• Livestock master plan of Ethiopia (20 years) since 2015• Sheep and commodity strategy (2015-2030).• Included in the Road map of Ethiopian Ls research• Included in the Road map of Red meat production• Partnership between NARS and ILRI/ICARDA is

worth mentioning.

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Award