Dairy Goat Breeds

Abstract

Animal-agriculture production is pivotal for food security, when viewed from the standpoint of inadequate animal protein supplies, increasing malnutrition, and the need for economic growth and rural prosperity. Strong demand-led processes drive animal production systems and trends in Asia, The inadequate supplies are fuelled by strong demand-led processes which drive animal production systems and trends in Asia, backed by a rapidly changing external environment. These awesome issues are associated with the following factors: population growth, income growth, and urbanisation. Inefficiencies in natural resource management (NRM), supplies being unable to meet the demand, and changing consumer preferences. Among ruminant animals, the multifunctional value of goats throughout the developing countries underlines its importance, especially in the rural areas where goats, make a very valuable contribution especially to nutritional and food security and income (Devendra, 2012a; Devendra and Liang, 2012). Goats contribute significantly to human nutrition, food security and income of resource-poor small farmers in Asia, Africa and beyond. The high content of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids in goat milk for example, is beneficial for human health, resulting in goat milk being sold at premium prices of three to nine times the price of cow milk in countries like China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Goats play a significant role in farming systems that directly impact on the capacity of rural farmers, and can srve tas the entry point to develop rainfed areas. There is thus every justification for improving dairy goats and increased milk production in Asia. The species is very widely distributed, but the preferred environment is the semi-arid to arid agro-ecological zones (AEZs) such as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region, within-country in Rajasthan in India, Baluchistan in Pakistan, Harare in Zimbabwe, Chihuahua and San Louis Portosi in Mexico The value of goats increases in relation to its contributions, capacity to adapt to different rainfed less-favored areas (LFAs), cope with the effects of climate change, and respond to market opportunities and human dietary changes (Devendra, 2007). Dairy goats have a huge potential for expanding production and food security to directly benefit improved livelihoods of the resource-poor farmers and the landless. Much remains to be done to accelerate their development through the application of needs-based technology and community-based participation, and their efficiency of use of the natural resources.