Defining Breeding Goals and Breeding Strategies for Improving Livestock Under Various Production Systems in Africa: Concept and Brief Overview

This chapter presents an overview of the concept and functions of breeding goalsBreeding goals in livestock improvement programs. The first section (Sect. 15.1 Breeding GoalsBreeding goals in Livestock Improvement Programs) provides an overview of the definition and functions of breeding goalsBreeding goals, critical elements required for their development, and variations in their adoption across different species. The section also outlines global and continental frameworksFrameworks and intervention initiatives aimed to facilitate the wide adoption of breeding goalsBreeding goals for the diverse species and breeds found in Africa. The second section (Sect. 15.2 Breeding Strategies and Livestock Improvement) presents the concept and options related to breeding strategiesStrategies to realize the defined breeding goalsBreeding goals. The section highlights essential elements for successful breeding strategiesStrategies to increase productivity and incomes including livestock performance data, farmer participation, appropriate dissemination of outcomes, and continuous evaluation. Examples of breeding strategiesStrategies for cattle and small ruminantsRuminants are presented to highlight the integration of some of the essential elements of breeding strategiesStrategies in the African context. The last section of this chapter (Sect. 15.3 Future Perspective) stresses the futuristic importance of breeding goalsBreeding goals and strategiesStrategies for livestock production in line with changing environments and global demands for products.