Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya
The development towards a sustainable agro-pastoralism started late in Chepareria Division, Kenya, but is today moving fast. The livestock-based agro-pastoralists widely apply crossbreeding with imported exotic breeds for rapid performance improvements. There is a great shortage of breeding- and gen...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231)
2016
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571540145340416 |
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| author | Engström, Freja |
| author_browse | Engström, Freja |
| author_facet | Engström, Freja |
| author_sort | Engström, Freja |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | The development towards a sustainable agro-pastoralism started late in Chepareria Division, Kenya, but is today moving fast. The livestock-based agro-pastoralists widely apply crossbreeding with imported exotic breeds for rapid performance improvements. There is a great shortage of breeding- and genetic knowledge and because no long-term breeding programs are practiced there is a risk of losing valuable genetic variation of indigenous breeds. The documentation on the livestock production in Chepareria is inadequate. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the current breeding strategies and herd structures, as well as the purpose of the animal production. A combination of structured and semi-structured interviews was made on thirty farms in the areas Ywalateke and Pserum. Twenty farms were randomly selected and ten farms were chosen because they were considered to have the best livestock management performance. The number of animals in the herd did not differ between the two areas, neither between the randomly selected nor chosen farms. Crossbreeding was used by 83% of the farmers and 67% of the farmers planned their breeding in some way. The only significant difference (P= 0.05) between the two regions seen was that own bulls were more commonly housed on farms in Pserum.
The purpose of the production was shown to be both for selling and self-consumption. Products produced were; milk, meat, live animals, eggs, manure and hides. The reasons for selling products were predominant to pay for school fees, as education was considered of great importance. The prices given for live animals at the market were shown to differ a lot due to type, sex, and breed. Milk was seldom sold and the daily milk yield was difficult to estimate because of different measuring tools among the farms. For future improvement more detailed investigations have to be done. To launch long-term breeding strategies, blood samples of livestock animal need to be taken to determinate individual genetic composition. A moderate use of crossbreeding should also be considered. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU9544 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231) |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231) |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU95442016-12-01T12:33:32Z Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya Avel och besättningsstruktur i boskapsbaserade agropastoralistiska system i Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya Engström, Freja breeding strategy herd structure crossbreeding animal production livestock-based agro-pastoralism Chepareria West Pokot Kenya The development towards a sustainable agro-pastoralism started late in Chepareria Division, Kenya, but is today moving fast. The livestock-based agro-pastoralists widely apply crossbreeding with imported exotic breeds for rapid performance improvements. There is a great shortage of breeding- and genetic knowledge and because no long-term breeding programs are practiced there is a risk of losing valuable genetic variation of indigenous breeds. The documentation on the livestock production in Chepareria is inadequate. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the current breeding strategies and herd structures, as well as the purpose of the animal production. A combination of structured and semi-structured interviews was made on thirty farms in the areas Ywalateke and Pserum. Twenty farms were randomly selected and ten farms were chosen because they were considered to have the best livestock management performance. The number of animals in the herd did not differ between the two areas, neither between the randomly selected nor chosen farms. Crossbreeding was used by 83% of the farmers and 67% of the farmers planned their breeding in some way. The only significant difference (P= 0.05) between the two regions seen was that own bulls were more commonly housed on farms in Pserum. The purpose of the production was shown to be both for selling and self-consumption. Products produced were; milk, meat, live animals, eggs, manure and hides. The reasons for selling products were predominant to pay for school fees, as education was considered of great importance. The prices given for live animals at the market were shown to differ a lot due to type, sex, and breed. Milk was seldom sold and the daily milk yield was difficult to estimate because of different measuring tools among the farms. For future improvement more detailed investigations have to be done. To launch long-term breeding strategies, blood samples of livestock animal need to be taken to determinate individual genetic composition. A moderate use of crossbreeding should also be considered. Trots att utvecklingen mot en boskapsbaserad agro-pastoralism började sent i Chepareria Division, Kenya, växer den idag fort. För att snabbare uppnå förbättrade produktionsresultat tillämpar agropastoralisterna i stor utsträckning korsningsavel där importerade exotiska raser används. Den stora bristen på kunskap om avel och genetik, samt bristen på långsiktiga avelsprogram, ökar risken för att de inhemska rasernas värdefulla genetiska variation går förlorad. Det finns ingen tillräcklig dokumentation av animalieproduktionen i Chepareria. Denna studie utfördes därför för att undersöka rådande avelsstrategier, besättningsstrukturer och syftet med djurproduktionen i området. En kombination av strukturerade och semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes på 30 gårdar i områdena Ywalateke och Pserum. 20 slumpmässigt utvalda gårdar och 10 gårdar, som ansågs vara de ”bästa”, ingick i studien. Antalet djur i besättningarna skilde sig inte mellan de två områdena, inte heller mellan de slumpmässigt utvalda gårdarna eller de ”bästa” gårdarna. På 83% av gårdarna tillämpades korsningsavel och 67% av bönderna planerade sin avel på något sätt. Den enda signifikanta skillnaden (P = 0,050), som de statistiska analyserna visade, var att det var vanligare att inhysa egna tjurar på gårdarna i Pserum. Syftet med animalieproduktionen visade sig vara både för försäljning och för egen konsumtion i hemmet. Det produkter som producerades på gårdarna var mjölk, kött, livdjur, ägg, kyckling, gödsel och hudar. Den övervägande anledningen till försäljning av produkter var för att betala skolavgifter, då utbildning ansågs vara av stor betydelse. De gällande priserna för livdjur på marknaden visade sig skilja markant på grund av typ, kön och ras. Mjölk såldes sällan och den dagliga mjölkavkastningen var svårt att uppskatta eftersom olika mätverktyg användes på gårdarna. För framtida förbättringar inom husdjursaveln måste mer detaljerad forskning göras. För att kunna starta en mer långsiktig avelsplanering behöver blodprover från boskapen göras. Detta för att kunna bestämma individers genetiska sammansättning. En försiktig användning av korsningsavel bör också övervägas. SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231) 2016 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9544/ |
| spellingShingle | breeding strategy herd structure crossbreeding animal production livestock-based agro-pastoralism Chepareria West Pokot Kenya Engström, Freja Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya |
| title | Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya |
| title_full | Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya |
| title_short | Breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in Chepareria, West Pokot, Kenya |
| title_sort | breeding and herd structure in livestockbased agropastoralism systems in chepareria, west pokot, kenya |
| topic | breeding strategy herd structure crossbreeding animal production livestock-based agro-pastoralism Chepareria West Pokot Kenya |