Nigerian West African Dwarf Goats

Abstract

West African dwarf (WAD) goats represent a major livestock resource in the humid West and Central Africa where they are distributed across 15 countries. These goats are raised in low-input systems where they contribute to income and livelihoods of millions of people, with women playing key roles in local WAD goat value chains. These goats are renowned for their high fertility, multiple births, high twining rates, all season breeding, in addition to variations in qualitative traits within populations, justifying further policies for their conservation and sustainable use. Their rusticity and adaptation to backyard systems, as well as their cultural significance, contribute to their popularity. In spite of these attributes, severe constraints to production include absence of a policy-driven agenda for their sustainable production and utilization and no systematic long-term breeding programmes for their genetic improvement. This chapter reviews the status of WAD goat production and proposes strategies for their full exploitation as part of a poverty reduction agenda. Knowledge gaps including situation analysis (i.e. status of policies, institutions, infrastructure and capacities for sustainable WAD goat production) and analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to WAD goat production systems are suggested. Proposed interventions include the following: a regional policy-driven agenda on sustainable WAD goat production, systematic long-term research and development strategy (i.e. breeding policy, infrastructure for recording, genetic evaluation and provision of estimated breeding values to farmers as a clientele service, etc.), WAD goat value chain mapping, analysis, chain empowerment, gender inclusiveness and livestock entrepreneurship through WAD goat production. These programmes could contribute to the sustainable exploitation and conservation of the genetic potentials of WAD goats for wealth creation, especially for resource-limited families.