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Goat breeding excites LL farmers

 

Farmers from Kamchedzera Village in Mitundu Extension Planning Area in Lilongwe have welcomed the Buck Selection Programme which aims at breeding more high-quality goats.

The community-based breeding programme (CBBP) seeks to select a breeding stock of the bucks (male goats) from the local breeds by using a combination of scientific and traditional methods.

Some of the farmers admiring the goats

The farmers said this when a Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) lecturer and three technicians visited Kamchedzera Village yesterday.

Semida Chitungwi, one of the beneficiaries of the programme, said her family is set to benefit now that she knows how to take care of her goats.

“I will surely have more and healthier goats which will make my family earn more money than before,” she said.

According to Luanar breeding scientist Timothy Gondwe, who is also the CBBP principal researcher, the programme is user-friendly and promotes the community participatory approach (CPA).

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and European Union (EU) through the Indigenous Livestock Improvement Programme, the initiative is an alternative to an earlier cross-breeding programme which used exotic breeds such as the Boer and Saanen goats.

The CBBP started in 2014 with implementation in Mzimba and Nsanje districts before it moved to Lilongwe in 2013. n

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