Valuing the Relative Importance of Goat Farmers Trait Preferences: Implication for Designing Community Based Breeding Program

Abstract

The success of a breed improvement programme depends on farmers' participation in the identification of breeding objective traits relevant to particular production environments. This study compared and contrasted two methodological approaches weighted rank vs. exploded logit modelin an effort to better understand and value the relative importance of farmers' trait preferences. For this purpose, two districts (Erer and Shinnile), were selected purposively based on their agro-ecologies, goat population size, the relative significance of goats to the livelihood of the communities, and the willingness of the farmers to participate. A survey with 120 farmers (60 from each district) owning goat flocks was carried out to investigate the purpose of keeping goats, breeding buck and doe selection criteria, and goat production constraints. The results found for the purpose of keeping goats, breeding buck and doe selection criteria, and goat production constraints reflected the multiple objectives of the farmers. Milk, income and meat were the most important traits for the purpose of keeping goats; body conformation, fast growth and pedigree were the most important traits for the selection of bucks; milk yield, body conformation and mothering ability were the most important traits for the selection of does; and drought, disease and feed were the most important traits of production constraints in the study areas. The results of this study form the basis for better designing of breeding programs for sustainable utilisation that address farmers’ preferences, speed up genetic progress and conserve indigenous goats, thereby meeting the needs of farmers.