Poster prepared for the ILRI Annual Program Meeting (APM) 2010, held at ILRI campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 14-17, 2010.

1. Designing community-based breeding strategies for
indigenous sheep breeds of smallholders in Ethiopia
Introduction
Within- breed selection programs based on proven approaches from the North and importation of exotic
breeds for breed replacement and/or crossbreeding have in many cases failed. New thinking, involving
local communities and institutions, is needed in the design of breeding strategies and implementation of
resulting programs. This project is implementing community-based breeding strategies for resource-poor
sheep owners in different regions of Ethiopia.
Goals
Improved productivity and income of sheep owners by providing
access to improved animals that respond to improved feeding and
management, targeting specific market opportunities.
Im
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g
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o
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ate
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Proc Afar
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Outputs
• Description of the production systems
• Participatory methodologies for definition of breeding goals
• Community based sheep breeding plans implemented
• Training on various aspects
• Influence breeding policy in Ethiopia
The good news is … And the not so good news is …
April 2010
The
project
works
on
adapted
indigenous
breeds
with
full
involvement
of
the
The
consequences
of
an
improved
gene9c
poten9al
on
the
individual
animal,
the
flock
communi9es
and
community
are
yet
to
be
studied
Haile A., Duguma G., Mirkena T., Tibbo M., Mwai O.,
Barbara R., Iñiguez L., Wurzinger M. and Sölkner J.