Research and Training Strategies for Goat Production Systems in ...

Perspectives on the constraints, opportunities and issues surrounding research on
goat production in Southern Africa
PB Cronje
Department of Animal & Wildlife Sciences, University of Pretoria
Pretoria 0002, South Africa
The resolution of issues (i.e. questions or disputes) represents the only valid motivation for
research (the endeavour to discover facts by study or investigation), and is the cornerstone
for the null-hypothesis upon which the scientific method is based. The impact and usefulness
of research findings will, therefore, be determined by the relevance of the issue that is
addressed. Unfortunately, in many cases far too little time is spent defining what the critical
issue is. Because of ill-defined perceptions of what the relevant issues actually are, it is not
unusual to find that entirely disparate perspectives exist with regard to research priorities. It
is not the intention of this paper to add to the list of research priorities, but rather to define
some of the issues that may or may not be relevant as departure points for the prioritisation
of research related to goat production in South Africa.
For the purposes of this paper, it is accepted that the ultimate issue that should be addressed
by goat research should be the quality of life of all the peoples of South Africa. The term
>quality of life= includes social, economic and biological dimensions. The dimension most
frequently addressed by animal scientists is that of biology, and within this context the issue
most frequently used as a departure point for prioritisation of animal science research is that
of food production.
South Africa is reasonably self-sufficient in terms of the amount of food of animal origin
that is produced and consumed on a per capita basis. Although the relative consumption of
different types of meat has changed over the last 35 years, the total per capita consumption
of meat has remained constant despite a substantial population growth. In addition to this,
with the exception of beef, the real prices of all animal products have either declined
(poultry, pork, milk, eggs) or remained relatively constant (mutton) over the last 29 years
(Nieuwoudt, 1998). If greater food production is the real issue, research priorities should be
directed towards increasing the output and efficiency of intensive animal production
systems. The advances in productivity have been achieved over the past 30 years can be
mainly attributed to the mass-production of anabolic hormones and their use to increase
growth and milk production rates, as well as improved genetic selection methods. In the
future, further improvements in productivity are likely to be achieved using gene
technologies which would allow critical genes to be switched on or off as desired, and also
by the cloning of genetically modified animals (Etherton, 1998). While these technologies
may represent appropriate research priorities for the more developed countries, it is wise to
consider whether the issue being addressed is applicable to South Africa.
In the past, research priorities in South Africa have been dominated by efforts to increase
food production and per capita consumption. However, an increasing appreciation of the
fact that 5.8% of the population account for over 40% of total consumption has lead to the
adoption of food security (i.e. the access of all people to enough food for a healthy and
active life) as a more appropriate issue for research prioritisation than food production.
Since some 30% of the population of South Africa are classified as the ultra-poor (i.e. those
do not obtain sufficient food) and of these, 80% are blacks living in rural areas, it is
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