Smallholder livestock farming in sub Saharan Africa is associated with considerable risk and vulnerability. The challenging environmental conditions and limited resources available to support large livestock production present a major constraint to the development of this sector on the continent. Yet, Africa holds up to 70 percent of the livestock diversity in the world.

In addition to great diversity, African livestock includes species which possess attributes that give them resilience to diseases and other stresses that present a challenge to livestock production. During the fourth session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) AgTalks, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub director Appolinaire Djikeng gave his perspective on a fresh approach to livestock production which will help poor and vulnerable farming households in Africa climb up the livestock ladder out of poverty.

The N’dama cattle of West Africa are known to be trypanotolerant, and as such are able to populate tsetse fly infested regions of the continent where the tick-borne trypanosomiasis disease poses a significant challenge to livestock keeping. Still in West Africa, the prolific dwarf goat which produces up to four kids in one kidding has proved to be a great asset to smallholder farmers, enabling them to build large flocks for quick access to financial resources and nutrition. The Red Maasai sheep which are indigenous to East Africa possess resistance to endoparasites and thrive in very challenging arid environments, common in sub Saharan Africa.

In this nine minute video, Djikeng draws lessons from his childhood experience of the difference it made to own Cameroon’s unique ‘ugly’ pig during an Africa swine fever outbreak to address the issue of providing better opportunities for smallholder farming communities by utilizing the diversity of livestock as well as developing alternative livestock production systems in Africa.

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Read the full transcript here: http://ifad.org/agtalks/apollinaire.htm

Read related story here: Livestock, a lifeline for smallholder farmers