Performance and Genotypes of Dairy Goats in Kenya: Lessons Learnt and the Need to Move beyond Donor Introductions

摘要

A study was conducted in three cluster regions in Kenya where the Alpine,Toggenburg and Saanen dairy goat breeds,respectively,were kept.The objective was to determine the breeds’relative performance for use as a basis of their recommendation to farmers.Formal questionnaires were used to obtain information on farm sizes,dairy goat sources,reasons for keeping the dairy goats,goat milk production,amount of feed offered to the goats and the constraints faced.Further information on the actual milk production and live weights of the milking does was collected directly from the farms using hired recorders.Results indicated that the dairy goats were fed between 6 kg/goat/day and 17 kg/goat/day of forage.They had a low production average of 1.4 L milk/goat/day with no clear cut breed differences.Toggenburg milking does were significantly(p<0.05)heavier than the other breeds(48.3 vs.38.0 and 39.0 kg for the Alpine and Saanen dairy goats,respectively).The milk production and goat live weights were below their reported potential.Feed shortage in the dry season was a major constraint.It was concluded that farmers could keep any of the three breeds.It was recommended that data on the comparative performance from the three breeds be generated to guide on farmer choices.Governments receiving donor support on agricultural endeavours should put in place the technical and policy mechanisms to support the ventures after the donor exits,and also ensure recommendations by different donors on a technical issue are consistent and complementary.