aistand south~ern afrkca - (PDF, 101 mb) - USAID

Development of a research
programme
In the first Five Year Development Plan (1980)
the Government of Zimbabwe identified goat
research as a priority, particularly in communal
areas where very little was known about the
system. The newly established Faculty of Agriculture
at the University of Zimbabwe was also
emphasising communal area reseatrch in all
agricultural fields. The Zambezi Valley, which
had received little or no attention before this,
was identified as an ideal site for multidisciplinary
research in the faculty.
The Department of Animal Science of the
Faculty of Agriculture, surveyed the Zambezi
Valley area for potential livestock research
programmes. The Zarnbezi Valley was tsetse
infested and cattle wei e proscribed from the area
by government orders. Goats were present in
appreciable numbers and it was felt pertinent to
investigate their production levels and then
design and introduce technologies aimed at
improving their productivity. The International
Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC)
funded this project in 1984 for an initial
three-year period. The funding included training
of two research fellows to MPhil level,
Recruitment of the research fellows took
longer than expected and actual research did not
begin until eight months after funding was
obtained. The original research site at the
Zambezi Valley proved too long a distance to visit
regularly and a second site was added to the
programme. An area in Nyanga north that was
in Region 5 was chosen. This could be visited
fortnightly and the journey to and from the site
could be undertaken within a day. In contrast the
journey to the Zambezi Valley took eight hours
during the dry season and longer in the wet
season when the roads leading to it became
impassable.
After the initial three years, a further grant
was obtained from IDRC for another three years.
The objectives of the programme were not
changed even though the Zambezi Valley area
was dropped completely from the study and an
alternate site in Matebeleland south was
selected due to the fact that it had the highest
concentration ofsmall ruminants in the country.
Data collected from the Zambezi Valley had been
erratic and hence could not be used. The main
source of these problems was the inability of the
researchers the enumerator to visit who the conducted area regularly data collection to monitor
Implementation of the programme
The scope of the research in the six years mostly
concentrated on monitoring studies, development
of feed resources within the farming
systems, introduction ofmultipurpose trees and
forage legumes and on-station research on feed
utilisation by indigenous small ruminants. The
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monitoring studies included weighing goats
fortnightly to determine weight changes, recording
entries (births and purchases) and exits
(deaths, sales etc) from flocks and collecting
b!ood samples for progesterone assay to
determine the reproductivity of does. From birth
records, parameters like age at first kidding,
kidding intervals and litter sizes could be estimatee,
while exit records were used to estimate
survival rte.i and to determine causes of exits
and the effects of seasons, birth types and doe
age on mortality. On-station studies included
determination of the productivity of indigenous
small ruminants when provided with good quality
feeds and the development of feeding packages
based on crop by-products and forage legumes.
In the original and subsequent proposal, one
of the sub-objectives was to provide improved
marketing for small ruminants and to analyse
socio-economic consequences. This was not done
because of the absence of a socio-economist
willing to participate in the programme. In the
second phase of the project one of the objective
was to monitor diseases and develop integrated
disease control packages in conjunction with the
Department of Clinical Studies at the Faculty
of Veterinary Science. This was not achieved a3
it was not possible to secure the services of a
graduate willing to undertake the studies and
register tunities elsewhere for a postgraduate offered higher degrec. remuneration. Job oppor­
The first two Research Fellows engaged in the
project concentrated on on-statior research work
and this left data collected in the monitoring
studies in abeyance for long periods. Consequently,
any errors made by the enumerators
were not detected until six to eight months later
after data had already been entered into master
sheets, record books and computer. This delay in
inputting the data and verifying it, meant that
most data had tp be discarded if it seemed
dubious. The enumerators and/or farmers often
could not recall what occurred so far back.
Achievements and failures
A major objective of this programme was to
provide baseline data on the productivity of
indigenous small ruminants. Sheep flocks in the
areas were very few and therefore monitoring of
these flocks was discontinued. Monitoring ofgoat
flocks provided, for the first time in Zimbabwe,
information on the productive potential of
indigenous
collated material
goat breeds
is summarised
in :ommunal
in Table
areas.
2. One
The
of the major facts emanating from this was
that even though the indigenous goats showed
oestrus all year round there were definite kid­
ding seasons in April/May or July followed by
another broader peak in September to Deember.
There were hardly any kiddings in June in both
areas surveyed.
Seasonal effects on growth performance and
survival ofkids in both areas were identified. In