Community based small ruminant breeding programs in Ethiopia: Progress and challenges

Abstract

Abstract In Ethiopia, small ruminant breeding programs has been shifted from central nucleus scheme to community based breeding programs considering the past genetic improvement approaches and their suitability to the Ethiopia's production system. One-tier community-based breeding program (CBBP) is currently active breeding strategy implementing with farmers having a common interest to improve and share their genetic resources. Reviewing the progressive results and faced obstacles with their possible solutions is crucial to the breeding plan for its strengthening and adoption in non-participantareas/breeds and other commodities. Community based breeding program has been operated successfully in smallholder goat/sheep producers in mixed crop livestock production system. However, in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities and farmers that have larger flock sizes even in the mixed production system are resisted because of restricted freedom in flock movement, fear of losing independency in decision making and lack of interest in mixing their own flock with others. Moreover, the progressive results of CBBP’s are significantly different among sites due to the differences in commitment and relationship among the CBBP implementers as well as the regional governmental services. Expanding of the CBBP’s in the existing sites as well as in new sites/breeds is still in the gradual form. Small flock sizes, uncontrolled mating system, difficulty of pedigree and performance recording, year round lambing/kidding pattern, keeping higher proportion of breeding males than the recommended male to female ratio, poor institutional support, weak organization of farmers’, incompatible cooperative society proclamation to the CBBP, shortage of incentives to participant farmers are identified as main challenges of the CBBP. Thus, strengthening and careful implementation of CBBP bylaws, reconsidering the cooperative society proclamation and government services is crucial to improve productivity of small ruminant and thereby the profits of farmers in the CBBP’s. Applying restricted breeding season may create great opportunity to increase availability of candidate breeding ram/buck and to eliminate correction factor for kid/lamb season of birth. Optimizing the number of CBBP’s per targeted breed is essential to obtain better genetic gain via efficient utilization of skilled manpower that engage in the CBBP’s rather than gradual increments of CBBP’s. Capacitating the existing reproductive technologies like AI and estrus synchronization (ES) in the CBBP is essential foraccelerate genetic gain, to record accurate pedigree information, and to disseminate the superior gene into non participant farmers. Designing and implementing compatible breeding strategy that initiate individual farmers with larger flock size in the pastoral, agro-pastoral as well as in the mixed production systems may achieve higher genetic gain, profit and sustainability of the proramme.