Cover photo: Goats and sheep feed on dried cowpea pods in Duko Community in northern Ghana. Africa RISING is assessing the viability of cowpea residue as a dry season feeding option for small ruminants Photo credit: Jonathan Odhong’/ IITA
Integrated technological options are necessary for improving livestock production. Therefore, feed interventions for improving small ruminant production have to be associated with health interventions.
- Supplementary feeding did not only lead to improved performance of sheep and goat in terms of weight gained, but it was reported by the farmers to reduce animal losses through theft and accidents .
- Sheep and goat productivity can be improved significantly through strategic feed and health interventions through better animal performance in terms of weigh gained and significantly reduced mortality rate.
- There is high potential for scaling up of the feed and health interventions from the great interest demonstrated by the farmers in the intervention communities. Given the significant involvement of women in raising small ruminants, feed-health packages can enhance the livelihood of women and the household in general.
Livestock assume great importance as major source of livelihood and income for many households as well as in food security of farm families and whole communities in the three regions in the North of Ghana (northern, upper east and upper west regions). Rural poultry, sheep and goat rearing, and smallscale dairy, particularly are known to best serve the interests of women and poor households.
Key constraints to improving meat and milk outputs include low resource endowment of the smallholder farmers, low productivity of local breeds, and inappropriate management practices (feeding, health, and housing) which result in high mortality rates. The extensive small ruminant production system is characterized by low productivity due to high mortality from diseases, seasonal feed shortages and low productive potential of local breeds. The mortality rate among pre-weaning sheep and goats could be as high as 35% in some flocks in northern Ghana.
It has been demonstrated that simple interventions involving disease control, improved nutrition, and better management lead to marked, positive effects on small ruminant performance and productivity. Considering whole farm productivity, profitability and sustainability, interventions to improve small ruminant production should be in the context of effective integration with crops, for example to have more manure for soil fertility and enhance efficient nutrient management in the mixed systems.
- The growth rate of treatment animals was higher than that of control animals (P<0.05) (Table 1). Lambs grew about twice as fast as kids (P<0.05) (Figure 1a & 1b).