Tanzania Dairy Genetics: Highlights of progress James Rao

Maziwa Zaidi review & planning meeting

31 March – 1 April 2015 at Giraffe Ocean View Hotel, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

tdg.ilri.org

The Problem

Many Smallholder dairy farmers are milking losses.

Use of inappropriate dairy breeds leading to low productivity

Inadequate application of productivity enhancing technologies

The potential contribution of appropriate genetics and

new technology in increasing yields is largely

undocumented.

This Animal

This EnvironmentWhat farmers have been trying to do

MOVE

Crossbreed

Adapt

Optimize

Upgrade

Environment

To this

Animal

Smart choices can only be made where performance data is available!

I am Better I am much Better

Ngobe Zerida II

H234 73% 4.9 ltr/day

Rank: 209/285

11.06 ltr/day

W046 77% Rank: 1/285

• Characterization of currentdairy cattle genotypes inuse

• Determination of mostappropriate genotypes forsmallholder dairy farmersin Rungwe and Lushoto

• Understanding what dairytechnologies are mostdesired (lacking) bysmallholder dairy farmersin Rungwe and Lushoto

TDG Project Objectives

How are we doing this?

Apply emerging NGS technologies to determine breed composition of dairy animals

Samples are already taken from animals

Undergoing analyses

Correlate breed-type with performance & systems data obtained through participatory appraisal, in-situ

Baseline household survey conducted

Longitudinal surveys on-going

Listen to farmers…continuously and incorporate their concerns and views in design of on-going interventions

Project Study Sites

Selection Criteria

On-going ‘Maziwa Zaidi’ Activities

Emerging Dairy industries with high potential

Range of breed types

tdg.ilri.org

Farmer and Animal Selection

Household selection criteria

Have more than 1 animal meeting selection criteria OR

Have an active bull

Have a variety of breed types

Animal Selection Criteria

Be either a calf less than 3 months old

Be a bull in active use

Be a lactating cow

Be in-calf, 3rd trimester

Progress so Far: Activities completed

• Animal selection: A total of 1200 animals recruited

• Bio-sampling: Blood and hair samples collected from 1200 animals; Most of the animals ear tagged

• Baseline survey: Systems data collected from 670 households

Preliminary results: Household survey

6%

30%

20%

17%

16%

11%

Proportion of animal types in study households visited

Incalf

Heifers

Lactating

Cows

Incalf Cows

0

100

200

300

400

500

Lushoto Rungwe

Nu

mb

er

of

Farm

ers

District

Mobile Network Operator Subscription amongst farmers

AirTel Tigo Vodacom

0

500

1000

Phone Type

Nu

mb

er

of

Hou

sehold

s

Phone types distribution amongst participating

farmers

Basic Null Smart

Animal Dynamics: Baseline

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Animal Dynamics: Entry and

exit

Number_bought Number_sold

Num

ber

of

anim

als

Animal Type

0.00

50.00

100.00

150.00

200.00

250.00

300.00

350.00

400.00

450.00

Animal Dynamics: Sale and

purchase price

Purchase_price(US$) Sale_price (US$)

Pri

ce (U

SD

)

Animal Type

Progress so Far: Ongoing activities

1000 animals to be genotyped for breed composition

Collection of performance data ongoing, to last 9 months

Farmer feedback: Two sessions planned

ICT system deployment: Training materials being developed

Challenges

Lack of USSD platform to deploy paperless data collection

Delays in start of field activities

Increase in costs of data collection

Successes

So far have trained 47 individuals in field data collection, survey administration and bio-sample collection

Leveraged collaborations with RDA and ILRI Health team to investigate husbandry and health issues

Integrated the national extension system to be part of project activities and planned feedback delivery network

Mechanisms for output dissemination and scaling

Focus group discussions

Online Training tool*

Mobile phone content delivery*

Individual Farmer feedback

The Team

Students

Work Package Leads

Project Management Team

Site Enumerators

tdg.ilri.org

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

better lives through livestock

ilri.org