Surveys were made of rural artisan cheese factories located in the region of Olancho, Catacamas, and Juticalpa in Honduras (n=10) and in Esquipulas and Muy-Muy in Nicaragua (n=13). The objective was to analyze the milk market of small rural artisan cheese factories in livestock watersheds of Honduras and Nicaragua to determine if there is a market for higher milk production; how much additional milk can the market absorb in each season of the year; there is a market for milk of higher hygienic quality. The main buyer of the milk from small and medium scale farmers in Honduras and Nicaragua is the rural artisan cheese industry, which absorbs almost 80% of the milk produced in both countries. Total milk production during the rainy season is about twice that during the dry season, causing an over-supply and scarcity of milk, respectively. The shortage of fluid milk during the dry season leads to an unsatisfied market. The artisan cheese factories in Honduras and Nicaragua would be willing to buy 76% and 55% more milk during the dry season, but this supply is not available due low milk productivity. This fact suggests that an aggressive program for the promotion of shrub legumes with sugarcane to supplement the herd during the dry season would have more impact that the promotion of grasses or legumes for the rainy season when there is little market for additional milk produced. In addition, rural artisan cheese factories in Honduras and Nicaragua, that consider the milk they collect is of bad quality, would be willing to pay a higher price if the option to collect milk of better hygienic quality exists. In Honduras this price would be about 9 % higher during the dry season and 11% higher during the rainy season. In Nicaragua the cheese factories would be willing to pay a milk price which is 17% higher, but only during the rainy season. As a result, large incentives exist in both countries to increase milk production during the dry season and to improve the hygienic quality of milk in the studied areas.

Nigerian indigenous chicken (NIC) from three agro-ecological zones (Rain Forest, RF; Derived Savanna, DS; and Guinea Savanna, GS) were evaluated for age at first egg, egg production and egg weight, percent hen-day egg production and percent laying mortality. Data for this work were collected over a period of 72 weeks. A total of 579 eggs from DS and RF zones and 505 growers from DS, GS and RF were evaluated. Data were compiled by Dbase IV and analysed using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Agro-ecological zones, age and sex were the fixed effects in the model. Means for each variable effect were compared using the Least-Square Analysis of Variance and Duncan option of SAS. For all the traits evaluated, there was no significant difference between the chickens from the three ecological zones. Hence, the Nigerian indigenous chickens from these zones cannot be said to belong to different genetic groups.

International audience | Reproductive performances of the Creole goat, the meat breed of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, are described from a database generated for 15 years (1973 to 1988) at an experimental farm of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA, Guadeloupe, French West Indies). The data contain information on 599 females, 2259 attempted matings, 2135 achieved matings and 1904 kiddings. Animals were reared under semi-intensive management conditions (on the basis of feeding system, health and culling policy). Main sources of variation were analysed: mating type (buck in permanence or buck effect), mating season (dry, intermediate and humid season) and rank of kidding. The Creole goat is a continuous breeder. On average 94.5 percent of exposed females were mated (defined as mating rate) and 90.5 percent of exposed females achieved a kidding (fertility rate). Their prolificacy reached 1.98 kids/kidding, with only 3.9 percent of kids born dead. These reproductive parameters varied essentially with rank of kidding but very poorly with the mating season. Productivity of these females was regularly high during their whole lifetime production. From the results obtained, it is concluded that Creole goats have very high reproductive performances, provided that animal husbandry and nutrition are adequate.

Surveys were made of rural artisan cheese factories located in the region of Olancho, Catacamas, and Juticalpa in Honduras (n=10) and in Esquipulas and Muy-Muy in Nicaragua (n=13). The objective was to analyze the milk market of small rural artisan cheese factories in livestock watersheds of Honduras and Nicaragua to determine if: there is a market for higher milk production how much additional milk can the market absorb in each season of the year there is a market for milk of higher hygienic quality. The main buyer of the milk from small and medium scale farmers in Honduras and Nicaragua is the rural artisan cheese industry, which absorbs almost 80% of the milk produced in both countries. Total milk production during the rainy season is about twice that during the dry season, causing an over-supply and scarcity of milk, respectively. The shortage of fluid milk during the dry season leads to an unsatisfied market. The artisan cheese factories in Honduras and Nicaragua would be willing to buy 76% and 55% more milk during the dry season, but this supply is not available due low milk productivity. This fact suggests that an aggressive program for the promotion of shrub legumes with sugarcane to supplement the herd during the dry season would have more impact that the promotion of grasses or legumes for the rainy season when there is little market for additional milk produced. In addition, rural artisan cheese factories in Honduras and Nicaragua, that consider the milk they collect is of bad quality, would be willing to pay a higher price if the option to collect milk of better hygienic quality exists. In Honduras this price would be about 9% higher during the dry season and 11% higher during the rainy season. In Nicaragua the cheese factories would be willing to pay a milk price which is 17% higher, but only during the rainy season. As a result, large incentives exist in both countries to increase milk production during the dry season and to improve the hygienic quality of milk in the studied areas.

Results of the study showed the following: 1) There exists an extremely broad range of agricultural and agroforestry land-use alternatives to the current slash-and-burn systems but much work needs to be done. 2) There is a major need for scientific quantification of the many attributes of the most promising systems. 3) There is a need for national policy to discourage use of environmentally destructive systems and to encourage longer-term investment by finding solution to land tenure uncertainty. Innovative marketing approaches that open large market segments for agroforestry fruit products (such as the soft drink market) have been extremely successful but not well documented in many parts of Asia. 4) There is a need to "harness" and distribute the best farmers knowledge about integrated systems, but have little successful experience with this. 5) Finally, scientist must realize that the scientific knowledge base covering the range of options is frightfully narrow, and the scope for learning is enormous. The success stories of imaginative application of the many options give hope, but at the same time stretch our abilities, to understand and to properly apply the numerous technologies waiting for more widespread use