Presented by Ayele Abebe, EIAR, at the 7th Africa Agriculture Science Week, Kigali, Rwanda, 13-16 June 2016

1. Sheep and Goat Improvement Programs
Ethiopian experience
Ayele Abebe, EIAR
7th
Africa Agriculture Science Week, Kigali,
Rwanda, 13-16 June 2016

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Ethiopia is a land of diversity
 With 18 different agro ecologies
 Rich and hosts several flora and fauna
Introduction

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Introduction cont’d
•Ethiopia has an
estimated population of
27.3 million sheep and
28.2 million goats (CSA,
2014)
•Are distributed in all
agro-ecological areas of
the country.

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Introduction cont’d
o Sheep and goat are important for the farmers and
pastoralists (sources of livelihood)
o Apart from their role at HH and communal level, small
ruminants have national importance as they provide
 for about 46% of the national meat consumption,
 58% of the value of hide and skin production (Kassahun et
al., 1991) and significant amount of export earnings

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• Unlike improved breeds elsewhere, most of the
indigenous breeds are not selected for their production
performance.
• Gross off-take rates were estimated to range from 10 to
35% for sheep and 11 to 38% for goats
• While commercial off-take rates were in the range of 6
to 22% for sheep and 7 to 18% in goats (MoA, 1985; Belete
2009; Belachew and Jemberu, 2003; Mohammad et al., 2007; Asfaw and Jabbar,
2008
Introduction cont’d

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Introduction cont’d
The principal constraints are:
o Diseases and parasites,
o Poor nutrition (quality and quantity),
o Unimproved genetic potential of local breeds,
o Poor marketing infrastructure and access to markets,
o Minimal institutional and support services, and
o Poor access to and sub-optimal utilization of knowledge,
information and technologies (Markos 2000; Tsedeke 2007; Gizaw et al.,
2013).
 The influence of these constraints is manifested through reduced
reproductive efficiency, high mortality, slower growth rate of
survivors, low off take rate and return.

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Current status
To narrow the gap in productivity of sheep and Goat
• Research projects were initiated and implemented
 crossbreeding has been applied on a number
of sheep and goat breeds in the country.
 Cross breeding in sheep and goats was not
successful

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• The adoption of results generated from past research
endeavors has been negligible and the impact on the overall
production and productivity level is hardly notable
 Efforts was made to improve indigenous sheep by selection
(on-station),
Current status

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• Improving local sheep through selective breeding
 On 3 breeds (Menz, Afar and Horro)
• Establishment of elite nucleus flock for Menz sheep
– Promising result was obtained from on-station selection
program for Menz sheep
Current status

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Trend of genetic improvement for Menz sheep under selection
program

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Currently
born lambs
from Menz
selection
program on-
station
Current status

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Current status

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• Past failures prompted research on the design of alternative
community based breeding programs.
• For instance, village-based cooperative/community breeding
programs have now been established for Menz, Horro and
Bonga sheep breeds
 The ILRI/ICARDA and Boku University came with the idea of
community based breeding programs in the Ethiopia
o It is a kind of value chain approach where by which the
focus is from farm to fork
Current status

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Current status
Appreciable genetic improvement has been achieved in
the Menz program (DARGEGN VILLAGE)
• Body weights at birth, 3 and 6 months of age
increased by:
• 0.42, 2.29 and 2.46 kg, respectively, in the third
generation over those in the base generation.
Appreciable genetic improvement has been achieved in
the Menz program (DARGEGN VILLAGE)
• Body weights at birth, 3 and 6 months of age
increased by:
• 0.42, 2.29 and 2.46 kg, respectively, in the third
generation over those in the base generation.

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Current status

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Menz sheep in a
community based
breeding
Current status

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Current status

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Role of ILRI/ICARDA
Approach of community based breeding programs:
• Adopted value chain approach
 Organization
 Breeding
 Feeds and feeding systems
 Health interventions
 Marketing
 Input supply
• Participatory research (research and development at a time)
• Animal identification
• Farmers’ preference
• Recording
• Selection
• Culling
Approach of community based breeding programs:
• Adopted value chain approach
 Organization
 Breeding
 Feeds and feeding systems
 Health interventions
 Marketing
 Input supply
• Participatory research (research and development at a time)
• Animal identification
• Farmers’ preference
• Recording
• Selection
• Culling
We work together from planning to
implementation of the CBBP

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Because of the results obtained from the CBBP the
Government of Ethiopia:
• Took it as a best practice
• Allocated budget from the national system and start
implementation
• In GTP 2,
• Livestock master plan of Ethiopia (20 years) since 2015
• Sheep and commodity strategy (2015-2030).
• Included in the Road map of Ethiopian Ls research
• Included in the Road map of Red meat production
• Partnership between NARS and ILRI/ICARDA is
worth mentioning.

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Award