This study aimed at better understanding of the characteristics of feeding and breeding practices smallholder farmers adopt in intensifying their dairy production. Use of hired labour for fodder gathering, growing of fodder crops and purchase of feeds increased with increasing intensification, but Bos taurus breeds did not respond to increasing feeding intensification while Bos indicus cattle responded, calving at earlier age and yielding more milk. Overall, first calving occurred at 32 months, but days open prolonged to 250 days with milk yield of 4 litres per day of calving interval. A principal component analysis extracted six feeding and breeding components, explaining 71.79% of the total variations in feeding and breeding practices for dairy intensification. The six components were labelled: non-intensified feeding and breeding; breeding decisions based-intensification; high external resource based-intensification; moderate resource based-intensification; resource poor based-intensification; and moderate external resource based-intensification. These characteristics points to some 'evolutionary process' of intensification involving feeding and breeding decisions, depending on the risk-bearing capacity of the household. Intensification enhancing interventions for smallholders need be considered in the context of the household economy. Interventions on feeding and breeding have to be packaged together holistically if intensification is to enhance productivity. A selective intervention on only one of these is associated with low productivity levels, only contributing to sustaining family subsistence livelihoods.

A linear programming model was used to analyze the effects of different herd and fodder management levels on agricultural income of small-scale mountain dairy farmers in northern Peru. Results demonstrate that fodder and herd management strongly impact farm profits. There exists considerable potential to improve this situation, as many farmers in the study region are deficient in their fodder and herd management. When moving from average to high management levels, farmers could double their farm profits. In general, high mortality rates, long calving intervals, and inefficient fodder storage practices depress farmers' incomes most. Because of feeding deficiencies, especially in the dry season, recommended extension activities primarily must emphasize fodder storage and improved pasture management, to subsequently also enhance better herd management practices.

Ethiopia has been amongst the principal honey and beeswax producers worldwide for centuries. Beekeeping in Amhara region could be one way of assisting millions of the region’s farmers to improve their cash income, provide additional food, assist in pollination, generate employment and at the same time produce honey, beeswax and other hive products which can bring foreign currency into the country. This paper discusses the constraints and the future prospects on apiculture development of the region. The challenges are many but can be overcome while the opportunities are very encouraging. As a conclusion, developing appropriate policy and beekeeping development strategy that would be applicable to the different production systems will ensure the sustainable development of apiculture sub sector.

An evaluation of the pig enterprise at the Botswana College of Agriculture (BCA) farm using sow productivity and gross margin analysis was carried out. The data were obtained from breeding and financial records of the Landrace and Duroc breeds from 1997 to 1999. Litter size at birth influenced litter size at weaning and both traits decreased with an increase in parities. A positive correlation (0.70) was observed between litter size at birth and litter size at weaning. A negative gross margin was realised due to the high feed costs and low market price of pigs which did not cover production costs

Smallholder poultry as a tool for poverty alleviation has been developed and widely applied in Bangladesh. In this paper, the evolution of the model has been summarized and studies conducted to assess the impact of the poultry model at various stages of its evolution have been critically reviewed. The results indicate that the project has reached the poor though not always ultra poor, the main target of the model, and that participants have benefited positively in terms of income, consumption and nutrition, empowerment of women. However, the results need to be assessed with a high degree of caution because of several methodological limitations of the impact studies. These limitations have been illustrated and suggestions have made for more objective assessment of impact of past projects and for conducting additional research for supporting smallholder poultry as a tool for poverty alleviation.

In mix crop livestock systems, farmers derive their livelihoods using natural resources based strategies and off farm income. In these system livestock is both a source of food, fiber cash income and draught power valued in agricultural production and transport. Using the sustainable livelihood framework the contribution of working animals to income, food security and poverty alleviation is discussed in the context of rural West Africa. We use data collected in selected communities to test empirically the impact of ownership of working animals on poverty alleviation. Specifically, a poverty index is developed based on asset ownership and income from different sources including forest and off farm income. Then, this index is regressed on ownership of working animals and other important socio-economic determinants to provide evidence of the role of draught animals in poverty alleviation. Additional discussion also addresses the issues of constraints to the optimal contribution of working animals to the livelihoods and strategies to further improve the role of these working animals are highlighted.

In the study area predominantly three marketing options were available for the dairy farmers; unorganized vendors, formal / organized dairy cooperatives and integrated contract system. A majority of dairy farmers around 57.3 percent had shifted from one marketing option to another. The rest 42.7 per cent of dairy farmers remained in the same marketing option from the day they began commercial milk production. A major shift from vendors (informal system) to contract (39.5 per cent), followed by vendor to co-operative (24.4 per cent) and co-operative to vendor (19.8 per cent) was noticed. Irregularity in payment and stoppage of procurement by vendor system made dairy farmers shift from vendor system to others. After the weakening of vendor- farmer relationship and initiation of Milk Producer Cooperatives at the village level, there has been a shift from vendor to co-operative system. When the dairy sector opened for private investment coupled with poor performance of cooperatives, farmers shifted towards new marketing option the 'integrated contract system'. Irregularity in payment, distant location of collection centre and inability to milk the animals were reasons for shifting back to vendor from other marketing options. Prompt payments, sustainability of marketing systems in business were major factors responsible for retaining members and attracting new dairy farmers. Dairy farmers with the experiences of various marketing options gave more value to the prompt payment for the milk sold on comparing to milk prices.

The management of indigenous pigs in rural villages of Busia and Kakamega district, Western Kenya, is discussed. Data on husbandry practices, challenges and farmers knowledge on T. solium taeniosis / cysticercosis were gathered using questionnaires administered in face-to-face interviews. Pigs were examined for cysticercosis using the lingual palpation method. Data were managed in Stata®. Majority of the farmers were aged 30-50 years (44%), and were mostly women (69%). Years of pig keeping experience was higher in Kakamega (11.4±8.7) than it was in Busia (6.3±5.6) (P<0.05). Pork (31%) and beef (51%) were the most preferred meat types in the villages. Families owned an average of 0.94±0.81 hectares of land. The mean number of pigs owned per farm was 5.0 (±3.4), 1.8 (±1.2) and 1.5 (±0.9) for the pre-weaned, growing and adult pig categories, respectively. Constraints faced by the farmers included feeding (65%), diseases (46%), fewer breeding boars (60 %), poor profits (61%) and conflicts with neighbours (53%). Parasite control was poor. The majority of farmers (73%) had no pig house. These farmers either lacked skills to build the houses (11%; 23/209) or had no money to purchase construction materials (45%; 93/209). Tethering of pigs was frequent (>50%) during the planting (91%; 263 / 290), growing (90%; 263 / 290) and crop harvesting seasons (78%; 227 / 290). Prevalence of pig cysticercosis was 4.5%. Piglets were significantly cheaper in Busia (Ksh 509±57) than in Kakamega (Ksh 777±174) (P<0.05). Indigenous pig management in Western Kenya is reportedly poor. Improved knowledge coupled with changes in local husbandry practices would improve productivity, increase family incomes and safeguard the community from potential health risks associated with pig rearing.

Dairy production is a major contributor towards national economies and household food security and incomes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Milk production in the region is estimated at 1.27 million metric tonnes year-1. However, this level of milk production is inadequate for the existing human population who would require 103 million metric tonnes year-1. In Uganda, milk production only meets approximately 20% of the population's nutritional requirements. As such, methods need to be sought to increase milk production in the region. Research efforts have made strides in identifying the causes of the production-demand gap in the SSA region and a spectrum of interventions to bolster the productivity. Unfortunately, these efforts have by far yielded insignificant results. First and foremost, for exploiting the full potential of the dairy cattle population in the region, among the critical elements often overlooked in research and development processes is the recognition of systematic parametric variations within the sector, which if considered could provide entry-points for targeting intervention efforts. One such high potential entry-point is the recognition of the existence of a dairy intensification "vector" across a country or region, along which exist sections with sequentially marked nuclei of fairly uniform socio-economic and biophysical dairy sub-systems features. To enhance the process of targeting research and development in the Ugandan dairy sector, dairy production systems in the country were categorised on basis of level of intensification of production. Data were collected from 300 households in Mbarara, Masaka and Jinja districts in Uganda. The major variables derived from the data for the categorisation process were those related with milk production, expenditure, income, land area and cattle herds. The data was subjected to a cluster analysis which although produced 16 groups only five had prominent membership (above 5% of the farms). The five major clusters were selected as representative of the dairy production systems. A ranking system was used to develop an intensification continuum for the 5 systems. Herding-on own and communal land (cluster 9) was the least intensive, this was followed by Herding-mainly on own land (cluster 12) and Fenced (cluster 8) respectively. Semi-Zero Grazing (cluster 15) and Zero Grazing (cluster 13) were the most intensive dairy production systems with the latter being at the highest end of the continuum.

Access to timely and reliable information on livestock production and marketing is important in addressing the production and marketing aspects of the sector alongside access to financial services. This study analyzes the intra-household disparities in access to information and financial services among rural households in selected districts in Kenya. Specifically, the study compares women’s access to information on livestock production and financial services with that of men. Results show that informal channels such as farmer to farmer interactions were the key sources of information for livestock production and marketing. More men in male headed households received more training and were exposed to greater and varied topics than women. Men borrowed more from formal credit providers such as banks and co-operatives while women mainly borrowed from their community groups and neighbors. Analysis of determinants of savings by women revealed that women’s age and education positively and significantly increase their probability to save.