Community-Based Livestock Breeding: Coordinated Action or Relational Process?

The African Goat Improvement Network: a scientific group empowering smallholder farmers

The African Goat Improvement Network (AGIN) is a collaborative group of scientists focused on genetic improvement of goats in small holder communities across the African continent. The group emerged from a series of workshops focused on enhancing goat productivity and sustainability. Discussions began in 2011 at the inaugural workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya. The goals of this diverse group were to: improve indigenous goat production in Africa; characterize existing goat populations and to facilitate germplasm preservation where appropriate; and to genomic approaches to better understand adaptation. The long-term goal was to develop cost-effective strategies to apply genomics to improve productivity of small holder farmers without sacrificing adaptation. Genome-wide information on genetic variation enabled genetic diversity studies, facilitated improved germplasm preservation decisions, and provided information necessary to initiate large scale genetic improvement programs. These improvements were partially implemented through a series of community-based breeding programs that engaged and empowered local small farmers, especially women, to promote sustainability of the production system. As with many international collaborative efforts, the AGIN work serves as a platform for human capacity development. This paper chronicles the evolution of the collaborative approach leading to the current AGIN organization and describes how it builds capacity for sustained research and development long after the initial program funds are gone. It is unique in its effectiveness for simultaneous, multi-level capacity building for researchers, students, farmers and communities, and local and regional government officials. The positive impact of AGIN capacity building has been felt by participants from developing, as well as developed country partners.

Going to scale—From community-based to population-wide genetic improvement and commercialized sheep meat supply in Ethiopia

Community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) have shown, at pilot scale, to be effective and beneficial in achieving genetic progress and in improving livelihoods of smallholder communities. In Ethiopia 134 sheep and goat CBBPs were operational producing their own improved rams and bucks. Based on experience the implementation of further programs is possible with appropriate private and public support. A different challenge is the efficient dissemination of the improved genetics produced in current CBBPs to create population-wide economic impact. We present a framework applied to the Ethiopian Washera sheep breed to meet this challenge. We propose the establishment of a genetic improvement structure that supports a meat commercialization model based on the integration of community-based breeding program cooperatives, client communities and complementary services such as fattening enterprises. We calculated that the recently established 28 community-based breeding programs in the Washera breeding tract can provide genetically improved rams to 22% of the four million head. To reach the whole population 152 additional CBBPs are needed. We simulated the genetic improvements obtainable in the current 28 CBBPs assuming realized genetic progress in CBBPs of a similar breed and calculated the expected additional lamb carcass meat production after 10 years of selection to be 7 tons and the accumulated discounted benefit 327 thousand USD. These benefits could be increased if the CBBPs are linked to client communities by providing them with improved rams: additional meat production would be 138 tons with a value of 3,088 thousand USD. The total meat production of the existing Washera CBBPs was calculated at 152 tons and the joint meat production of CBBPs if integrated with client communities would be 3,495 tons. A full integration model, which includes enterprises purchasing lambs for fattening, can produce up to 4,255 tons of meat. We conclude that Washera CBBPs cooperatives can benefit from a higher level of organization to produce population-wide genetic improvement and economic benefits. Unlike in the dairy and chicken industries, for low input sheep and goat smallholder systems the proposed commercialization model puts breeder cooperatives at the center of the operation. Cooperatives need to be capacitated and supported to become fully functional business ventures.

Exploiting morphobiometric and genomic variability of African indigenous camel populations-A review

Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Africa are adapted to arid and the semi-arid environmental conditions, and are valuable for meat, milk and fiber production. On account of the growing demand for camels in this continent, there is a need for knowledge on their phenotypic and genetic diversity. This is fundamental to sustainable herd management and utilization including the design of appropriate breeding and conservation strategies. We reviewed studies on the phenotypic and genetic characterization, breeding objectives, systems of production, productive and reproductive performances, and pathways for the sustainable rearing and use of camels in Africa. The morphological and genetic diversity, productive and reproductive abilities of African camels suggest the existence of genetic variations that can be utilized for breeds/ecotypes' genetic improvement and conservation. Possible areas of intervention include the establishment of open nucleus and community-based breeding schemes and utilization of modern reproductive technologies for the genetic improvement of milk and meat yields, sustainable management of rangelands, capacity building of the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, institutional supports, formation of centralized conservation centres and efficient and effective marketing systems.

Status quo of genetic improvement in local goats: a review

This review aims to summarize and synthesize the fragmented information available on the genetic improvement of local goats (criollo, indigenous, native) on the American and other continents, where populations with these goats have an important role in food security and the economy of rural communities, as well as in conservation of biodiversity and productivity improvement. Topics such as the current state of goat production globally, conservation programs, resistance to parasites and diseases, use of phenotypical characteristics and genomic information, and molecular markers for genetic improvement are addressed. The main challenges, opportunities, and limitations described in recent literature concerning local goats in the immediate future are discussed.

Genomic analysis of 10 years of artificial selection in community‐based breeding programs in two Ethiopian indigenous sheep breeds

In recent times, community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) have been advocated as the best strategy for genetic improvement of local breeds in smallholder farms in developing countries. Since 2009, CBBPs have been implemented for Ethiopian Bonga and Menz sheep to improve growth rates resulting in significant genetic gains in 6-month weights. With the hypothesis that selection could be impacting their genomes, we systematically screened for possible genome changes in the two breeds by analyzing 600K BeadChip genotype data of 151 individuals (with the highest breeding values for 6-month weights) from CBBP flocks against 98 individuals from non-CBBP flocks. We observed no differences in genetic diversity and demographic dynamics between CBBP and non-CBBP flocks. Selection signature analysis employing ROH, logistic regression genome-wide association study , F_ST , XP-EHH and iHS revealed 5 (Bonga) and 11 (Menz) overlapping regions under selection, that co-localized with QTLs for production (body size/weight, growth, milk yield), meat/milk quality, and health/parasite resistance, suggesting that the decade-long selection has likely started to impact their genomes. However, genome-wide genetic differentiation between the CBBP and non-CBBP flocks is not yet clearly evident.