Smallholder Livestock Development Project

Smallholder Livestock Development Project

Although the provinces are relatively poor, the project areas are well suited to raising dairy animals and upgrading and fattening of cattle. They also have abundant sources of cheap fodder and forage. About 70 per cent of the farmers in the project area were smallholders, cultivating mainly subsistence crops, particularly rice and corn. Most of them owned a few head of cattle, kept primarily as a source of draught power and secondarily to supplement incomes through their milk and meat.

Because of a lack of adequate institutional support service and credit and marketing facilities, the area’s potential for dairy production had not been realized.

The project’s aim was to use existing resources to produce milk and meat, basic food items in which the country was not self-sufficient. Increased livestock production by smallholder farmers would improve their incomes and increase rural employment by diversifying on-farm activities. The project included pilot schemes for milk production and backyard beef and goat production.

Activities included:

• a pilot scheme to establish milk production as an additional farming activity
• livestock development, including support for technical assistance and research
• backyard cattle fattening and marketing
• credit for backyard livestock producers
• technical assistance and project management

All activities included emphasis on active participation by farmers.

Source: IFAD