Productivity and survival ability of goats in smallholder crop/livestock farming systems in Malawi

S K Chikagwa-Malunga^1,2 and J W Banda³

¹Chitedze Agricultural Research Station, P.O. Box 158, Lilongwe, Malawi
koncmalunga@yahoo.com
²University of Florida, Department of Animal Sciences, P.O. Box 110910, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
³Bunda college of Agriculture, University of Malawi, P.O. Box 219, Lilongwe, Malawi

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the production and reproduction parameters, herd demographics and survival ability of goats raised in a crop/livestock farming system in three agro-ecological zones of Malawi. The methodology included a cross-sectional baseline socio-economic household survey and monitoring of goat flocks. All animal related production parameters were recorded and parturition rates, off take rates, mortality rates, survival abilities and their associated risks including those due to sales and slaughters were derived.

The average flock size was 8. Breeding and rearing females (before first parturition) comprised 82% of the flocks. The annual parturition rate was 82.6 with a prolificacy of 1.3 kids per parturition. Kidding is seasonal and most kidding takes place from October/November to March. The study revealed high mortality (June to November) in rearing males and high off take from breeding and rearing stock, with a seasonal influence.

Therefore, measures such as higher replacement rates or a deliberate policy must be made to reduce slaughter rate and sales of breeding stock in order to sustain goat productivity and for the benefit of households in mixed crop/livestock system in Malawi. Survival rate of rearing stock can be increased if practices taken during the rainy season by farmers in managing goats are extended to June to November when most deaths occur.

Keywords: Crop/livestock system, goats, Malawi, off-take, productivity, survival

Introduction

The goat, sheep and cattle populations in Malawi are 1,600,000, 100,000 and 600,000, respectively (NLDMP 1998). Most of these animals are kept by smallholder farmers who own less than 1 to 1.5 ha of land. For survival, these farmers practice integrated farming based on crop/livestock production. The small pieces of land have encouraged many households to keep small ruminants as opposed to cattle. This has led to increases in goat population from 800,000 in 1990 (DAHI 1995) to 1,600,000 in 1998 and a decrease in cattle population from about 1 million in 1990 to 600,000 in 1998.

The small land holdings make it difficult for the households to produce enough food for the family members to last the whole year. Consequently, there are regularly recurring periods every year when staple food (maize) runs out from September (World Bank 1995). This period coincides with the time of greatest workloads in crop fields. During such times, selling of goats to earn cash to purchase food is one of the major strategies farmers take to make their households survive. Due to these sales, the contribution to the socio-economic and cultural objectives of the rural community is quite large.

Despite the recognised contributions of goats on smallholder farms, such roles and contributions have not fully been studied and quantified. The knowledge of the system in which goats interact with other farm enterprises is essential for identifying opportunities to shape the future of small ruminant production in Malawi. There is, therefore, need to characterise and quantify the production, reproduction and socio-economic issues that affect goat production, hence influence policy formulation that may lead to economically sustainable production in crop/livestock systems.

The objective of the study was to estimate quantitatively, the production and reproduction parameters, herd demographics and survival ability as well as factors influencing such characteristics in a crop/livestock farming system in Malawi.

Materials and Methods

Data were collected during implementation of the ILRI/EU-funded Small Ruminant Research Project. The study was carried out in three agro-ecological zones. The first was in Bolero representing highland area, the second in Nsaru representing plateau areas of the central Region and the last was in Mangochi representing the lowland areas. Although there are differences in the areas studied, farming system is predominantly crop/livestock production area. Tobacco and maize are major crops grown and goat production is one of the major livestock activities households are engaged in.

The methodology included initially a cross-sectional baseline socio-economic household survey. The household survey was carried out to provide information on the family size and age structure, household activities other than livestock production, land use, intra-household division of labour, as well as ownership patterns and production goals. This survey covered 100 households in all three locations and 43 flocks (households) were selected randomly based on the outcome of the 100 farms covered.

The monitoring phase involved monitoring flocks of goats. All animal related production parameters regarding animal events, such as births, deaths, sales, purchases, slaughters, gifts and thefts, as well as factors influencing these events were recorded on structured forms by trained enumerators, who visited each household once or twice a month over 12 months. Weights and ages of all the goats were weighed during the visits.

From the data collected, parturition rates, off-take rates, mortality rates, survival abilities and their associated risks including those due to sales and slaughters were derived. The following procedures were followed using PANACEA and EXCEL computer programmes to arrive at incidence rates and risk rates.

The number of animal-days is the sum of the number of days that each animal in the observed population was present during the period of observation/monitoring. The average number of animals was calculated as the number of animal-days per monitoring period in days. The animal mortality and net off-take rates were calculated as true incidence rates (or incidence density rates). These are used when the population being studied is dynamic. They have a minimum value of zero and a maximum value of infinity, and apply only to populations. They cannot be interpreted at the individual (animal) level and should not be confused with risk rates, which are calculated as proportions. The Net off-take Rate was calculated as ((removals-additions)/animal-days)*365*100. The Mortality Rate was calculated as (deaths/animal-days)*365*100. off-take, sales, slaughter and mortality risk rates were calculated as cumulative incidence rates (proportions).

These are the proportion of a fixed population that experiences the event in a stated period of time. If the risk of an animal experiencing the event (in a stated period) is required, the true rate can be converted to a risk rate, using the following formula:

risk rate=1-e^¹(-rt);

where:

e is the base of the natural logarithm,
r is the true rate and
t is the time period of interest.

The cumulative incidence measure is premised on the assumption that there are no competing risks. Because there are several ways by which the animal can exit the population, the specific risks are hypothetical measures. The risk rates calculated were expressed as probabilities (or %) per year, except for suckling stock (% per 6 months). The percent of suckling males (SM) or suckling females (FM) surviving to 6 months of age was calculated as:
(e^¹[-annual mort. rate of SM or SF or SF*0.5 years]-perinatal mortality)*100.

Results and Discussion

Tables 1 and 2 show some important production parameters calculated for all classes of covered in the study area in Malawi.

The average flock size was 8 (Range 2-21). Over 56% of the flocks had less than 8 goats per flock (Table 2).

Breeding and rearing females (before first parturition) comprised 82% of the flocks. This implies that farmers are conscious of keeping only those animals which are productive for the sake of increasing the herd. The flock size reported here is similar to that reported by Rischkowsky and Steinbach (1997) and Banda et al (1998) for other parts of Central Malawi. The annual parturition rate was 82.6 with a prolificacy of 1.3 kids per parturition. This rate is lower than that obtained by Banda (1992) of 1.47 for local goats. Rischkowsky and Steinbach (1997) obtained even higher values of 2.0 for local Malawi goats. Most kidding takes place from October/November to March. This is so because goats are released from tethering in June/July when crops have been harvested, during which time communal mating takes place, hence kidding seasonality.

Mortality rates were higher in rearing males (42%) than in either suckling stock (27%) or rearing plus breeding stock (15%), particularly starting from June, soon after harvest. The trend was also similar for suckling stock. Main causes of death were predation (25%), diarrhoea (19.4%), accidents (16.1%) disease (10.5%) and starvation (8.1%). About 19.4% of the cases died due to unknown causes. This means that work must be done to establish the causes of high mortality so that interventions can be recommended to reduce them.

The overall mortality rate was 34.0% with a risk of 28.8%. The mortality rate (Table 1) was highest for rearing males, followed by suckling stock. These values are higher than those reported by Rischkowsky and Steinbach (1997), although the methodology of calculation was different.

The overall off-take rate was calculated to be 21.1% with off-take risk of 19.0%. The off-take risk increased from young stock to old stock. The risks of off-take were highest in rearing and breeding stock. The major reasons for the off-take were mainly the need for cash, if the animals were sold or slaughtered for ceremonies and family consumption. Animals mainly affected were breeding females and rearing stock. These events would explain why the number of breeding females and suckling stock decreased during the study period. No explanation can be offered for the highest gifts given out during March. Normally, most slaughters and sales of goats take place from September to March each year. During this period yearly food shortages recur in households. Hence as a family survival measure, selling of goats or slaughter are the main ways of obtaining cash for food, which runs out by September (World Bank 1990).

Farmers do purchase over 76% rearing females and 24% breeding females from other villages or farmers as replacements for the off-take (32.3%), but mainly to increase the flock (52.9%) and to upgrade the herd (11.8%). The amount paid for the goats is MK227.00 compared to average price of MK292.88 when they sell, as at 1997 (1 US$ = 18 MK, Malawi Kwacha). The animals bought are aged 13 and 30 months respectively, for rearing females and breeding females. They sell the goats at 14.2 and 36.3 months, for rearing and breeding females, respectively. This means that the farmers are conscious of replacing the old goats with younger ones which will remain productive in the flocks longer. These purchases take place throughout the year.

Conclusion

• The study has revealed some important information regarding animal (goat) production systems in Malawi.

• It has shown high mortality in rearing males and high off-take from breeding and rearing stock, with a seasonal influence.

• Measures such as higher replacement rates or a deliberate policy must be made to reduce slaughter rates and sales of breeding stock, if goat productivity has to be sustained, and reverse the downward trend in population of breeding females and suckling stock.

• Practices taken during the rainy season by farmers in managing goats should be extended to June to November when most deaths occur. This will increase the survival rate of rearing stock. Once these measures are taken, slaughters and sales could take place in a sustainable manner for the benefit of households in mixed crop/livestock system in Malawi.

References

Banda J W 1992 Genotypic and seasonal influences on milk yield and milk composition of sheep and goats in Malawi. PhD Thesis, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Germany.

Banda J W, Mtukuso A P and Jere J A 1998 Small ruminants in smallholder crop/livestock systems in Malawi. Identification and prioritisation of constraints. UNISWA Research Journal of Agriculture Science and Technology, 2(1):180-183.

DAHI 1995 Annual livestock census: National livestock numbers. Department of Animal Health and Industry (DAHI), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Lilongwe, Malawi.

NLDMP 1998 Customary land annual livestock census. National Livestock Development Master Plan (NLDMP), Department of Animal Health and Industry (DAHI), Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MOAI), Lilongwe, Malawi.

Rischkowsky B and Steinbach J 1997 Goat's milk for smallholders in Malawi - A way of improving the nutrition of the rural population. Animal Research and Development, 46: 55-62.

World Bank 1995 Malawi Food Security Report. Report No. 8151 - Mai, 27 June 1995.