Do smallholder farmers benefit more from crossbred (Somali x Anglo-Nubian)

171 Pages·2006·0.69 MB·English

by  Workneh Ayalew

TTrrooppiiccaall AAnniimmaall PPrroodduuccttiioonn
GGeeoorrgg--AAuugguusstt UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff GGööttttiinnggeenn
DDoo ssmmaallllhhoollddeerr ffaarrmmeerrss bbeenneeffiitt mmoorree ffrroomm ccrroossssbbrreedd
((SSoommaallii xx AAnngglloo--NNuubbiiaann)) tthhaann ffrroomm iinnddiiggeennoouuss ggooaattss??
WWoorrkknneehh AAyyaalleeww KKeebbeeddee

Do smallholder farmers benefit more from crossbred
(Somali x Anglo-Nubian) than from indigenous goats?

Doctoral Dissertation
Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Agricultural Sciences
of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
Georg-August University of Goettingen

by
Workneh Ayalew Kebede
born in Debre Marcos, Ethiopia

Goettingen, 31 September, 2000
Die Deutsche Bibliothek – CIP – Einheitsaufnahme

Ayalew Kebede, Workneh:

Do smallholder farmers benefit more from crossbred (Somali X Anglo-Nubian) than from
indigenous goats? / by Workneh Ayalew Kebede. –
1. Aufl. – Göttingen : Cuvillier, 2000
Zugl.: Göttingen, Univ., Diss., 2000
ISBN 3-89873-007-7

First examiner: Prof. Dr. John M King

Second examiner: Prof. Dr. Erich W Bruns

Third examiner: Prof. Dr. Manfred Zeller

Gedruckt mit Unterstützung des Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes

© CUVILLIER VERLAG, Göttingen 2000
Nonnenstieg 8, 37075 Göttingen
Telefon: [phone]
Telefax: 0551-54724-21

www.cuvillier.de

Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Ohne ausdrückliche Genehmigung
des Verlags is es nicht gestattet, das Buch oder Teile
daraus auf fotomechanischem Weg (Fotokopie, Mikrokopie)
zu vervielfältigen.

1. Auflage, 2000
Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier

ISBN 3-89873-007-7
DEDICATION

To my mother,

Agedech Hunegnaw,

who has had the courage to traverse
cultural, traditional as well as economic boundaries
to provide me with all the opportunities
to enable me to produce this contribution
to farmers like herself.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................................i
LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................iv
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................vii
ABBREVIATION.........................................................................................................viii

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .....................................................................................5
2.1 Significance of the goat in Ethiopia .....................................................................5
2.1.1 The place of goats in Ethiopian highlands ...............................................5
2.1.2 Use of goat products .................................................................................7
2.1.3 Functions of goats ....................................................................................9
2.2 Measurement of benefits from subsistence goat production ..............................12
2.2.1 Improved family welfare as an indicator ................................................12
2.2.2 Conventional indicators of goat productivity .........................................14
2.2.3 The concept of productivity as applied to subsistence production .........18
2.3 Crossbreeding and improvement of traditional goat production ........................24
2.4 Sustainability of crossbreeding programmes .....................................................34
2.5 Development of the general hypothesis .............................................................36

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS OF STUDY .........................................................37
3.1 The research environment ..................................................................................37
3.1.1 The study region .....................................................................................37
3.1.2 The production system ...........................................................................37
3.1.3 The Dairy Goat Development Programme (DGDP) ..............................42
3.2 Sampling and data collection .............................................................................48
3.3 Data transformation ............................................................................................51
3.3.1 Body weights ..........................................................................................51
3.3.2 Annualised average flock size and body weights ...................................53
3.3.3 Level of management .............................................................................53
- i -
Page

3.3.4 Labour input ...........................................................................................54
3.3.5 Valuation of manure ...............................................................................56
3.4 Aggregation of flock level composite productivity indices ...............................57
3.4.1 Physical production and Value Added to flocks ....................................58
3.4.2 Socio-economic benefits ........................................................................59

4. DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS ......................................................................................64
4.1 Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the households ................64
4.2 Dynamics of sample flocks ................................................................................65
4.3 Benefits ...............................................................................................................70
5. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION .................................................................................72
5.1 Benefits from mixed flocks ...............................................................................72
5.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................72
5.1.2 Materials and methods ..........................................................................72
5.1.3 Results and discussion ............................................................................76
5.2 Benefits from improved management ...............................................................79
5.2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................79
5.2.2 Materials and methods ...........................................................................80
5.2.3 Results ....................................................................................................81
5.2.4 Discussion ..............................................................................................85
5.3 Benefits from crossbreeding ...............................................................................87
5.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................87
5.3.2 Materials and methods ...........................................................................87
5.3.3 Results ....................................................................................................89
5.3.4 Discussion ..............................................................................................93

6. CONTINUITY OF INTRODUCED TECHNOLOGIES .........................................96
6.1 Institutional support ............................................................................................96
6.2 Maintaining crossbred goats ...............................................................................98
6.3 Improved feeding practice ................................................................................102
6.4 Basic goat health care .......................................................................................105
6.5 Revolving credit and self-help women groups .................................................108
- ii -
Page

6.6 Farmers` perception of the improved goat management ..................................109

7. GENERAL DISCUSSION .....................................................................................112

8. SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................126

9. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG........................................................................................129

10. REFERENCES .......................................................................................................132

11. APPENDIX ............................................................................................................148
- iii -
LIST OF TABLES
Page

Table 1: Functions and inputs of subsistence goat production in the highlands
of eastern Ethiopia ................................................................................................10

Table 2: Conventional indicators of goat productivity .........................................................15

Table 3: Performance of crossbred and indigenous goats under farmers`
management in Gursum and Kombolcha in 1995 .................................................33

Table 4: Average body weights of weaned goats in smallholder flocks in
Gursum and Kombolcha between 1994 and 1997 ................................................33

Table 5: Socio-economic characteristics of smallholder farmers in Gursum
and Kombolcha in February 1996 .........................................................................40

Table 6: Total daily requirements, intake, adequacy rate of households and
per capital consumption of nutrients......................................................................41

Table 7: Number of households selected for in-depth interviews by study group ..............50

Table 8: Coefficients of co-variate (body weight) and fixed effects (breed,
sex, case) in a linear mixed model to describe the unit prices (Birr)
of goats per kg of body weight ..............................................................................52

Table 9: Average unit prices (Birr) per kg body weight for goats sold and
purchased during the study period ........................................................................53

Table 10: Number of households and their management mean scores within
management strata and study group ......................................................................54

Table 11: Unit labour input (in minutes per day per kg body weight) for local
and crossbred goats during the study period .........................................................55

Table 12 : Delivery of credit to study households during the study period by
district ....................................................................................................................60

Table 13: Observed informal group insurance pay-outs and calculated
insurance coefficients during the study period .....................................................61

Table 14: Membership and supported insurance cases of informal self-help
insurance groups in the study area during the study period (July 1998
– June 1999) ..........................................................................................................62

Table 15: Total flock outflow (C + S + OT ) and insurance-oriented (FOM )
k k k k
outflow by study group..........................................................................................63

Table 16: Demographic characteristics of the study households by district .........................64
- iv -