Browsing by Subject "Kenya"

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Breeding objectives and selection schemes for Boran cattle in Kenya
(2009) Rewe, Thomas; Valle Zárate, Anne
Beef production with Boran cattle of Kenya presents an opportunity for utilising the potential of an indigenous breed. Improving the performance of these cattle through production of quality breeding stock may support the livelihoods of Boran cattle farmers. Organised breeding programmes for Boran cattle in Kenya are lacking. This thesis focussed on the design of optimal genetic improvement programmes for Boran cattle raised in the semi-arid tropics of Kenya. Specifically, the aims were: 1) to review the potential for beef cattle genetic improvement in sub-Saharan Africa, 2) to describe the state of institutional framework supporting Boran breeding in Kenya while considering the different categories of Boran cattle farmers, 3) to investigate the genetic and economic merit of alternative breeding programmes based on improved Boran, the unimproved Boran and the possibilities of expanding an inclusive breeding programme for these two strains of Boran cattle, 4) to discuss the feasibility of alternative breeding strategies within the context of a formal breeding programme in Kenya. The methodological approach entailed a review of the literature on cattle production and genetic improvement strategies for sub-Saharan Africa. This was done by identifying previous and on-going breeding activities among indigenous cattle breeds based on their regional distribution in Africa. An institutional framework analysis to characterise the Boran breeding sector in Kenya was also performed. Open questions were presented to the Boran cattle Breeders? Society of Kenya through an online survey to ascertain the structure of the society in terms of membership, cattle populations and animal breeding activities. The production systems, cattle types and breeding objectives were also sought from previous studies on Boran cattle in the process of developing appropriate breeding programmes. Design and evaluation of nucleus breeding programmes (genetically and economically) was done with the ZPLAN computer programme by defining the breeding objectives and selection criteria traits, describing breeding and commercial populations, describing selection groups as well as their reproduction performance parameters. The costs of the breeding programme included fixed costs and costs of animal recording. To account for genetic gain and the flow of animal genetics, a gene transmission matrix was defined utilising the selection groups alongside genetic and phenotypic parameter matrices. The information sources for the selection criteria were mainly parental selection groups and halfsibs of animal. The number of animals forming the selection groups and information sources was calculated in the NBILD and NUMBER subroutines of the ZPLAN. The interest rates for returns and costs were 8% and 6% respectively while the investment period was set at 25 years. The scope of the study was limited to two classes of farmers keeping Boran, the commercial beef ranchers and the market-oriented low-input beef producers that interact with commercial beef ranchers. Three breeding objectives were evaluated, 1) conventional breeding objectives with market (economic) values derived from bio-economic modelling, namely: direct sale weight, dressing percentage, consumable meat percentage, cow weaning rate, cow survival rate, cow weight, age at first calving, milk yield, feed intake and post weaning survival rate, 2) a combination of selected conventional target traits in addition to traits important to low-input farmers to exploit the ongoing informal interaction between the large scale ranchers and low-input systems, and 3) trait preferences for low-input farmers derived from conjoint analysis studies namely; sale weight, calving interval, temperament, tick resistance, trypanotolerance and lactation milk yield. To evaluate the benefit of perceived trypanotolerance in unimproved low-input herds, strategic recording for trypanotolerance for offspring of nucleus sires born in these herds was assumed. Closed and open-nucleus types were evaluated and variations on the nucleus size (5%, 10% and 25%). proportion of gene transfer to commercial herds (25%, 50%, 70%) and the proportion of gene importation into the nucleus (10%, 20% and 30%) were tested. The results from the institutional framework analysis showed that the Boran sector is structured with a section of the farmers being large scale commercial ranchers keeping approximately 17% of a total population of 580,000 heads of cattle. The rest were Boran farmers operating in low-input production systems keeping over 80% of the total population. The large scale commercial ranchers were found to be divided into two groups, about 52% of these farmers were elite breeders that record with the Kenya Stud Book and the rest were mainly commercial. The large scale commercial ranchers keep the improved Boran while the low-input farmers keep the unimproved Boran. The large scale commercial ranchers were organised into a breed society, namely, the Boran Cattle Breeders Society (BCBS), incorporating both the elite breeders and the commercial group. The BCBS was identified as a key stakeholder in the breeding of Boran cattle because of their informal role as suppliers of breeding stock. The results from the evaluation of alternative open and closed-nucleus breeding programmes utilising the Boran cattle populations were obtained with the ZPLAN computer programme. For the elite breeders?, where a total population of 52,000 cows with a breeding unit of 25% was assumed, the overall monetary genetic gain was KSh86 per cow while the profit per cow was KSh361 under the conventional breeding objective. The breeding programme with the entire BCBS group where a population of 99,972 cows was assumed obtained a higher monetary genetic gain and profit than the elite group per cow of KSh93 and KSh431 respectively under the same breeding objective. The results revealed the effect of a larger effective population size on performance of breeding programmes. The breeding programme based wholly on market oriented low-input producers was evaluated using farmer trait preferences as the breeding objective. This breeding programme posted a negative gain for milk yield of -1.1 kg, which improved when restrictions on growth and adaptation were applied. The introduction of the combined breeding objective that included adaptation and disease tolerance traits resulted in a drop in sale weight gain by almost 2 kg. However, post-weaning survival rate improved from 0.4% to 1% and trypanotolerance gained 20% packed cell volume within this breeding objective. There was reduction in feed intake under the combined breeding objective, which is desirable considering the prevailing limitations on land, feed and climatic conditions. This may induce a change in focus from the continuous improvement in sale weight. The gains in post weaning survival rate would support this objective. The results from the expanded breeding programme may be beneficial to both the low-input farmers and the commercial ranchers because of the advantages conferred from the improvement in adaptation traits. The benefits of extra recording for trypanotolerance in the commercial herds of the expanded programme were not realised. In general, the open-nucleus programmes were superior genetically while the closed-nucleus programmes were superior economically. The larger nucleus sizes (25%), higher gene contributions to commercial herd (70%) and limiting nucleus opening to 10% were most profitable. The limitations of the study were observed from the online interviews with respect to the amount of information that could be retrieved from key persons. Similarly, information on the legal framework of the breeding sector was scarce since Kenya has no active livestock breeding policy. The design and evaluation of the breeding programmes was possible with ZPLAN, however, in this study, genetic variance for traits, which normally diminishes with selection and inbreeding, was not account for. This may have had implications related to overestimation of genetic response and economic returns. Nonetheless, the potential of the Boran for both beef production and fitness traits coupled with the presence of institutional support for animal recording in Kenya were evaluated as strengths of the system. This study has shown the possibilities of combining market and non-market traits useful in breeding programmes for cattle utilised in different production systems. This approach is useful in cases where interactions exist between different categories of farmers. To benefit from advantages offered by open-nucleus breeding, recording may be avoided in the commercial herds and selection be done under criteria that are acceptable by the farmers. Further investigations on farmer organisations and comprehensive livestock breeding policies may aid the process of establishing co-ordinated breeding programmes for Boran cattle in Kenya.
Breeding strategies for Sahiwal cattle genetic resources in Kenya
(2011) Ilatsia, Evans D.; Valle Zárate, Anne
The Sahiwal breed is an important cattle genetic resource in the tropics where it is vital for subsistence and economic development among various communities. In Kenya a breeding and conservation programme has been in existence for over 45 years with the ascertains of its relevance in light of the producers? production aims and breeding goals still left pending. Moreover, there have been no systematic efforts undertaken to evaluate the suitability of the existing breeding programme or to examine how competitive it is compared to other alternative programmes in terms of genetic and economic merit. This thesis focused on understanding the breeding strategies for improvement of Sahiwal cattle genetic resources in Kenya. Specific objectives were; 1) to critically examine the existing breeding and conservation programmes for Sahiwal cattle genetic resources in the tropics focussing mainly on the strengths and weaknesses in Pakistan, India and Kenya as the core regions of development, 2) to understand the production conditions under which Sahiwal cattle genetic resources are raised, determine producers production aims and assess the relative importance of breeding goals and production challenges, 3) to identify and define the roles of various stakeholder institutions that are crucial in the realisation of a promising and sustainable Sahiwal cattle breeding programme, 4) to identify based on genetic and economic merits the optimal breeding programme for Sahiwal cattle genetic resources by evaluating the current and alternative breeding programmes, and 5) to analyse and discuss organisational options for implementation of promising breeding and conversion programmes. The results from the literature review study show that most studies on Sahiwal cattle genetic resources in the tropics have mainly concentrated on evaluating their performance levels with only a few published reports describing other breed characteristics. The Sahiwal breed is utilised for dairy and beef production under smallholder dairy pastoral extensive and ranching production systems both as purebreds or crossbreds. The necessary components to strengthen the breeding programme such as performance recording genetic evaluation and AI facilities exist albeit at different degree. Breeding and conservation efforts benefit from the technical and financial support from government research institutions, which also provide incentives to enhance participation in the programmes. However, breeding goals are rather informal and only defined in terms of high production levels with functional traits largely ignored. Field data analysis revealed that Sahiwal genetic resources were mainly kept for domestic milk production and for revenue generation through sales of milk and live animals. To a limited extent they were kept for breeding and also for multiple objectives that included insurance against risks and social functions. Production aims were influenced to varying extents by various household and farmer characteristics. Sahiwal cattle and their crosses were generally perceived to be better with respect to productive traits and fertility traits when compared to the EAZ. However, the EAZ was rated higher with respect to adaptation traits. The breeding objective traits of primary importance were high milk yield and big body size, good reproductive efficiency and relatively good adaptation to local production conditions. Performance and functional traits are important breeding goals that play a major role in fulfilling the multiple production objectives. This forms the basis for the optimisation of a breeding programme for sustainable utilisation to meet the needs of Sahiwal cattle producers. All the breeding programmes evaluated in this study showed positive genetic and economic gains, however, the difference was only in the margins of these benefits. Given the small population of the Sahiwal breed, an open-nucleus breeding programme is economically and genetically optimal because it will allow for efficient utilisation of the existing genetic base by allowing participation of more diverse pastoral born sires in the nucleus. The CNCROSS will continue to play an important role of facilitating the exploitation of trade-offs that exist between the Sahiwal and the EAZ with regard to production and adaption, as well as an intermediate phase in the up-grading programme. However, the full benefits of the open-nucleus breeding programme can only be realised in the presence of proper logistical organisation to facilitate exchange of breeding bulls between the pastoral herds and the nucleus farms and ensure equitable distribution. Co-operation between producers and relevant stakeholder institutions is necessary to ensure the requisite structures for implementation and sustainable execution of the breeding programme.
Livestock asset dynamics among pastoralists in Northern Kenya
(2017) Sousa-Poza, Alfonso; Mburu, Samuel; Kaiser, Micha
Understanding household-level asset dynamics has important implications for designing relevant poverty reduction policies. To advance this understanding, we develop a microeconomic model to analyze the impact of a shock (for example a drought) on the behavioral decisions of pastoralists in Northern Kenya. Using household panel data this study then explores the livestock asset dynamics using both non-parametric and semi-parametric techniques to establish the shape of the asset accumulation path and to determine whether multiple equilibria exist. More specifically, using tropical livestock units as a measure of livestock accumulation over time, we show not only that these assets converge to a single equilibrium but that forage availability and herd diversity play a major role in such livestock accumulation.