Many goat breeds have been domesticated worldwide but for dairy goats, breed standards and production records have been kept (Wikipedia, 2012). Selection of domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is generally based on improving production of meat, milk, or skin. Thus, breeds are generally classified based on their primary use, though there are several breeds which are considered dual or multi-purpose goats like the Red Maradi goat for which selection was based on its ability to produce meat, milk and quality skin. The most known breeds of goats are Saanen, Toggenburg, Alpine, Anglo-nubian, Boer, Angora, Cashmere, Nigerian Dwarf, Pygmy, Red Sokoto (Maradi) goat, and Sahelian goats.
Switzerland goat breeds like Saanan, Toggenburg, Overhasli and Alpine, the French goat breed are the world’s leaders in milk production. A Saanen nanny produced an average of 3.8 litres per day, the average weights of mature doe and buck are 68 kg and 91 kg, respectively (Wikipedia, 2012). The Anglo-Nubian or simply Nubian, the English goat breeds are dual-purpose for meat and milk production. The Spanish, South African Boer and Somali breeds of goats are best known for meat producing ability. Turkish Angora, Asian Cashmere, and Russian Don goats are kept for mohair and cashmere production.
Nigerian Dwarf, Pygmy, Sahelian, and Red Maradi goats from West Africa are considered as multi-purpose goat breeds; they produce meat, milk and skin; they demand increasing interest for research to investigate the potential production of these breeds.
Two goat breeds are principally raised in Niger, namely the Sahelian goat with two varieties (Peul goat and Touareg goat) and Red Maradi goat (Rhissa, 2010). Sahelian goat is raised anywhere in Niger whereas Red Maradi goat is confined in Southern-East of the country, in Maradi and Zinder regions as its predilection area.
A recent census on the livestock in Niger recorded about 31 039 041 animals, which were 11 238 268 goats (36.2%), 9 192 017 sheep (29.6%), 7 336 088 cattle (23.6%), 1 565 420
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camel (5%), 1 477 073 donkey (4.8%) and 230 174 horses (0.7%) (RGAC-Niger, 2007).
Thus, goats occupy the highest fraction of livestock in Niger.
In Niger, breeding activities and distribution of the red goat began in 1945, based on selection in Maradi, the predilection habitat or agro-ecological area of this breed, the reason for its name ‘Red Maradi’ goat. Then, the distribution of Red Maradi goat outside Maradi region, started with the castration of bucks other than the red. A further step was taken in 1963 with the creation of the Centre for Breeding Goat of Maradi covering an area of 1850 ha.
Maradi goat breeding Centre initially allotted 7495 animals to be distributed in different parts of Niger, of which 2287 were females and 5208 males. It appears that bucks represent 70% of animals that were distributed to farmers from 1972 to 1984. The repartition of animals comprised of Dosso (39%), Tahoua (26%) and Tillabery (17%) (Djariri, 2005). However, no goats were allotted to Agadez and Diffa regions which are located in the North and North-East of the country, which suggest that environmental conditions might not have been favourable for red goat (low availability of by-products and crop-residues, long displacements rangeland and pastures and desertification).
Nowadays, because of repeated efforts of Government, NGOs and Development Projects, Red Maradi goats are widely distributed in Niger and West Africa. The Red Maradi goat is present in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania and Senegal (Djariri, 2005).
For two decades of research on the Red Maradi goat in Niger, very little has been published, because the results have been compiled principaly as reports. Unlike in Niger, the Red Maradi goat is called Red Sokoto in Nigeria and has been accorded more attention in order to stabilize and standardize the breed due to its zootechnical aptitudes. Research conducted in Nigeria on the Red Sokoto goat started during British colonisation (Djariri, 2005), and intensified with the independence and the establishment of tertiary and research institutions.
In rural areas of Niger, small ruminants are raised to combat poverty and food shortage, but under nutrition and poverty still exist mostly in South-Eastern sections where the
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population density is highest. Demands for energy and protein are increasing all the time.
Low income and poverty of the household make it difficult to reach a balance diet. Many programmes (e.g. the Struggle Against Poverty and, the Rural Development Strategies) were implemented by Government to support the vulnerable masses, but the problem still persists because of acute poverty and less availability of nutritive foods. Non Government Organisations (NGOs), Developement Projects and Government programmes distributed small ruminants mostly red Maradi goats to women to alleviate this acute crisis. Notably, the Red Maradi goat is a dualpurpose breed which is prolific, provides meat and has a good dairy potential. So a majority of households keep goats mainly for meat and milk production but milk production is insufficient to satisfy the needs of both kids and humans. Although a greater proportion of milk is not consumed fresh, it is consumed with a traditional or local food called “Fura”. This is prepared by processing millet grain to flour which is cooked and mixed with fermented milk (lait caillé). However, the milk production potential of Red Maradi goat remains unknown.
Niger has a history of cyclical and severe famine and regular food shortage due to severe recurrent droughts. The last recent droughts were in 1968, 1971-1974, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1990, 2000 and 2004 (Mamadou, 2010). This state of affairs affected the entire demographic spectrum where children were most vulnerable. About 10% of children younger than 5 years had acute malnutrition and 44% of children had chronic malnutrition (Tsai, 2010). In 2005, food insecurity caused by locust infestation and drought caused a severe shortage of food crops raising acute malnutrition to 13.4% of the population in South-East Niger like Maradi and Zinder regions (Tsai, 2010). According to INS-Niger (2009), under nutrition and micronutrient deficiency were the main causes of chronic malnutrition which led to retarded growth of children in Niger affecting more than 46.3%
of children within the age bracket of 6-59 months old. High rate of morbidity, mortality and disability were thus due to nutritional deficiencies in Niger. This situation and other factors like severe poverty, food insecurity, and malaria have resulted in a child mortality rate of 20% and plummeted life expectancy to 44.7 years (Tsai, 2010).
Although alleviating under-nutrition in Niger is a real challenge, there is substantial optimism. It is known that a child’s growth and development are related to the intake of
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nutrients such as protein, lipid, vitamins and minerals derived from food. Milk and other dairy products provide important amount of these nutrients and their intake would improve the overall nutritional quality of children’s diet (Johnson et al., 2002).
Furthermore, chevron is the main source of meat in these villages although the production is still low.