Journal of Environment, Technology & Sustainable Agriculture

Vol. 1 (1), July, 2014 Special Series, pp 7- 12

ISSN 2315-800X
©2014 JETSA

BACKYARD GOAT PRODUCTION IN KATAGUM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

OF BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA: SOME PRODUCTION CONSTRAINS
1MAIDALA*, A., 2LUKA, J.S AND 1MAHMUD, M
1
Agricultural Education Programme, School of Undergraduate, College of Education, PMB 44,
Azare, Bauchi State, Nigeria
2
Animal Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jos, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author; Email: aminumaidala@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: The study assessed the socioeconomic characteristics and production constrain of
goat farmers in Katagum local government area of Bauchi state, Nigeria. 120 goat farmers were
purposively selected for the purpose of the study and questionnaires were applied, retrieved and
analyzed in a nested design procedure. Results showed that Quranic education was a dominant
education (66%) and males dominated the goat farming in the study area (81%). The respondents
fall between 40-49 years (50%), having a family size of 6-10 children (72%) and having a
monthly income of N 6000-15000 (65%). Production practices revealed semi intensive system is
the dominant production system (80%), red Sokoto is the dominant breed of goat in the study
area (54%) and Helminthiasis is the major disease affecting goat in the study area (55%). The
major constrain to goat production in the study area include high cost of feeds (72%), cost of
orthodox drugs (70%), transportation of animals to rural market (65%) and problems of theft and
accident (18%). Exposing goat farmers to appropriate information in areas of management
system, feed conservation practices, diseases prevention and management will help alleviate the
major constrains

Keywords: Backyard, goat production, protein needs, production constrains

INTRODUCTION
Goat is a good source of meat (chevon), milk, yoghurt, cheese and other by products such
as hide and skin (Anaeto et al., 2010). Goat meat is healthier alternative compared with other red
meat, it is low in saturated fatty acid and cholesterol this reduce the risk of stroke and coronary
diseases (Devendra, 1988). Goat milk is unique in human nutrition, the milk has smaller fat
globules compared to cow milk, the milk contain less tubercle bacilli and it is more digestible
(Fevrier et al.,1993). Goat milk can be used for the treatment of direct or indirect cow milk
allergy (Grezesiak, 1989). Goat and sheep enjoys a wide acceptability among different several
cultural groups because there is no taboo against them (Peacock, 1996). The small sizes
relatively to cattle contribute to the wide rearing in farms.
They serve as insurance against crop failure because they can be converted to cash in
times of need. Their ease of management, distribution, adaptability to a wide range of ecological
zones, ability to utilize poor quality fibrous feeds and hardiness make them livestock of choice
compared to other animals (Umanna, et al., 2011). Goats produce very past with tropical breeds
producing twins and triplets hence a flock can quickly can quickly expand until it forms major
part of the family asset (Peacock, 1996). Goats are considered superior in the utilization of poor

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quality fibre forages than other livestock (Dominic, 1991). The average of protein intake of
Nigerian is less than 35g/caput/day recommended by Food and Agricultural Organization of the
United Nations (FAO, 1990). A problem caused by low production of our animals with increase
in population for animproved animal protein intake there is the need for improvement in the
production of meat and other protein sources and other protein sources from the livestock
industry. Goat production offers a great potential in this respect due to their relatively ease of
breeding, management, ability to subsist on forages, hardiness, adaptation to a wide of range of
ecological zones.
Federal Ministry of Statistics (1997) reported 53.8 million herds of goat and this was
more than the sheep 33.2 million and cattle 18.2 million. Goat production is increasing in both
rural and urban centres because of the aforementioned merits. There is the need to study the
socioeconomic characteristics and production constrains of local goat farmers, this will help the
policy makers on development of goat production and management in order to increase
production among farmers. This will ultimately increase the animal protein intake, wealth and
health condition of the populace.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted during the 2012 dry season in Katagum local government of
Bauchi state, Nigeria. Katagum local government is divided into three districts namely Azare,
Chinade and Madara districts. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were
randomly administered to small scale goat farmers in the study area. The questionnaire were
successfully retrieved from the farmers and analyzed by simple descriptive statistics in a nested
design procedure (Dantata et al., 2010).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents are presented in Table 1.
Educational qualification of the respondents revealed that goat farmers have attained various
level of educational attainment with Quranic education having the highest (66%) and tertiary
education having the lowest (21%). Sex of the respondents showed that most of the respondents
were males (81%) this confirm the previous report of Umanna et al. (2011) who reported that
males dominate females in sheep and goat production in Niger state and Abu et al. (2011) in
small ruminant production area of Osun state. Experience in goat production revealed that
farmers that keep goat 6-10 years are having the highest experience (60%) and the least
experience was those that produced goat for more than 10 years (24%). The family size revealed
that goat farmers in the study area are having a large family size (6-10) this support the
preponderance of large family size among the rural areas as reported by Eboh (1995) and
Maidala et al. (2011).
The house hold income revealed that goat farmers in the area are low income earners
(78%) subsisting in less than one dollar per day N 16,000-30,000 this support the early assertion
of Maidala et al. (2011). The house hold income revealed that goat farmers in the area are low
income farmers (78%) subsisting on less than one dollar per day earning N 16000-30,000, this
report is in harmony with the earlier report of Maidala et al. (2011) on poultry farmers of
Katagum local government of Bauchi state. Table 2 showed some production practices of goat
farmers in the study area (80%) of the farmers practiced semi intensive system, this disagree with
the earlier report of Abu et al (2011) in Ogun state who reported that extensive system is the
dominant management system in the area (90%). The breeds of goat found in the area revealed
that revealed red Sokoto (55%) is the dominant breed found in the area and African dwarf goat is
the least (10%) and this findings support the earlier assertion of Bourn et al. (1994) who reported

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that red Sokoto is the dominant northern breed while west African dwarf is the dominant
southern breed because of the trypo-tolerant characteristics. Helminthiasis is the dominant
disease that affects goat in the study area (55%) followed by PPR (35%) and mange is the least
disease affecting livestock in the area (4%), several authors have reported the incidence of these
diseases to various types of livestock (Lamorde, 1997; Ghude et al., 2011; Lah, 2011).
Table 3 showed some of the production constrain of goat farmers in the study area. High
cost of feed during the dry season is one of the major problem (72%), Adegbola (1998) reported
that feeding is one of the major problem affecting livestock in Nigeria. More than 50 % of goat
farmers buy their drugs in the veterinary clinic, this values are higher than those of Ghude et al.
(2011) in Kabo local government of Kano state, Nigeria who reported (22.95%) treatment in the
veterinary clinics. Transportation problem is one of the major affecting goat productions in the
area and it adds to the cost of animals in the rural market (65%) and enough marketing problems
are not provided during marketing (15%). Problems of theft and accidents are minimal (18%).
Odour of animals especially males (buck) affecting people is not pronounced (28%).
CONCLUSION
For proper maximization of goat potentials for meat, milk and income, management and
production constrains such as feeding, theft, death from diseases and marketing problems should
be addressed. The following recommendations are made; Farmers should adopt proper
conservation of crop residues for dry season feeding, trained livestock extension agents should
train the farmers on improved management practices of goat keeping. Government should
provide affordable veterinary drugs in the clinic for goat producers, enough marketing facilities
should be provided in the livestock markets to justify the revenue collected from goat farmers.
Farmers should be encouraged to form cooperatives to enable them access loan from financial
institution to improve the animals they produced.

REFERENCES
Abu, J.Z., Adekoya, A.E. and Abu, O.A (2011). Socioeconomic characteristics and production
Constrain of small ruminant rearers within the house hold in peri-urban areas of south
Western Nigeria. Proceedings of 36th Annual Conference of Nigerian Society of Animal
Production (NSAP) (Eds) Adeniji, A.A., Olatunji, E.A. and Gana, S.E. Value
Reorientation in animal production: A key to national food security and stable
Economics 13-16th march
Adegbola, T.A. (1998). Sustainable ruminant production for human nutrition and national
development. Inaugural Lecture Series No.7, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University
Bauchi.
Anaeto, M., Adeyeye, J.A., Chiroma, G.C., Olarinmoye, A.O. and Tayo. G.C. (2010). Goat
products: meeting the challenges of human health and nutrition. Agriculture and
Biological Journal of North America. 1(6):1231-1236.
Bourn, D., Wint, W., Blench, R and Wooley, Z. (1994).Nigerian livestock survey. World Animal
Review 78 (1):49-58
Dantata, I.J., Luka, J.S., Maidala, A. and Fagam, A.S. (2010). Ethno botanical survey of Kufai-
Peri Ballin hills in Gombe state, Nigeria. Proceedings of the 24th Annual National
Conference of Farm Management Association of Nigeria held on 11-14th October at
Adamawa State University Mubi. pp 8-10
Devendra, C. (1988). The nutritional value of goat meat. Proceedings (IDRC268E). Goat meat
production in Asia. March 13-18pp 76-86

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Dominic, B.M.F., Dellow, D.W. and Barry, T.N. (1991). Voluntary intake and rumen digestion
of low quality roughages by goat and sheep. Journal of Agric Science. 25: 12-17
Eboh, E.C. (1995). Poverty, population growth and environmental degradation: The vicious
Cycle of human misery. In Eboh et al (eds). Rural Development in Nigeria; Concepts,
Processes and Prospects. Auto-century publishing company co. Enugu.
FAO (1990). Technical papers. Animal genetic resource a global programme for sustainable
development. Rome Italy.
Federal Ministry of agriculture (1997). Annual Report. Abuja. Nigeria.
Fevrier, C., Mourot, J., Jaguelin, Y., Mournier, A. and Lebretion, Y. (1993). Comparative
digestive utilization of UHT goat and cow milk: Nutritional effects of gelatin use of
swine model. Lait. 73:581-592
Ghude, M.I., Maigandi, S.A., Garba, Y and Mohammed, S.B. (2011). Common diseases of
sheep and goat in kabo local government area of Kano state. Proceedings of 36th Annual
Conference of Nigerian Society of Animal Production (NSAP) (Eds) Adeniji, A.A.,
Olatunji, E.A. and Gana, S.E. Value reorientation in animal production: A key to
national food security and stable economics 13-16th march
Grezesiac, I. (1989). Prescription of goat milk in pediatrics-revolutionary. Le concours Med.
111:3059-3064.
Lamorde, A.G. (1997). Animal health and nutrition as a major constrain to improving livestock
productivity. Paper presented at workshop on improving agricultural productivity of
peasant farmers in Nigeria 25th -27th November, 1997. Kaduna State Nigeria.
Lah, S. (2011). Prevalence of gastro-intestinal Helminthiasis among goats in Gombe state.
Journal of Environment Technology and Sustainable Agriculture. 1:132-138
Maidala, A., Azare, S.U and Dantata, I.J (2011). Some causes of poverty among peasant
farmers of Katagum local government and potentials of poultry production in alleviating
them. Journal of Environment Technology and Sustainable Agriculture. 1:139-146
Peacock, C. (1996). Improving goat production in the tropics. Ox farm/farm Africa. pp 1-7
Umunna, M.O., Olafadehen, O.A., Adebayo, A.O., Arowonna, A. and Arowolo, O.K (2011).
Socioeconomic characteristics and management of small ruminant farmers in Ilorin
metropolis. Kwara state Production (NSAP) (Eds) Adeniji, A.A., Olatunji, E.A. and
Gana, S.E. Value reorientation in animal production: A key to national food security and
stable economics 13-16th March

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Table 1: Socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers

Variable Frequency Percentage
Educational qualification
Quranic education 66 55.00
Primary school 21 17.50
Secondary school 12 10.00
Tertiary education 21 17.50
Total 120 100.00
Gender
Male 81 67.50
Female 39 32.50
Total 120 100.00
Marital status
Single 12 10.00
Married 96 80.00
Separated 06 05.00
Divorced 06 05.00
Total 120 100.00
Occupation of the respondents
Crop farmers 36 30.00
Mixed farmers 54 45.00
Civil servants 18 15.00
Business 12 10.00
Total 120 100.00
Years of experience in goat production
1-5 years 36 30.00
6-10 years 60 50.00
Above 10 years 24 20.00
Total 120 100.00
Age of the respondents
20-29 years 36 30.00
30-39 years 12 10.00
40-49 years 60 50.00
Above 50 years 12 10.00
Total 120 100.00
Number of children
1-5 children 24 20.00
6-10 children 86 72.00
Above 10 children 10 08.00
Total 120 100.00
House hold income (N / Month)
Less than 5,000 24 20
6,000-15,000 78 65
16,000-30,000 12 10
Above 30,000 06 05
Total 120 100.00
Participation in cooperatives activities
Farmers participate 47 39.00
Farmers don’t participate 73 61.00
Total 120 100.00
Source: Field survey 2012
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Table 2: Production practices of goat farmers in the study area

Variable Frequency Percentage
Management system
Free range system 18 15.00
Semi intensive system 96 80.00
Intensive system (zero grazing) 06 05.00
Total 120 100.00
Breeds of goat in the area
Red Sokoto 65 54.00
Kano brown 25 21.00
Borno white 18 15.00
West African dwarf goat 12 10.00
Total 120 100.00
Types of feeds given to the animal
Forages alone 18 15.00
Forages and agro by products 72 60.00
Forages and compounded feeds 12 10.00
Forages house waste and kitchen waste 18 15.00
Total 120 100.00
Diseases affecting goats in the area
Helminthiasis 66 55.00
PPR (Kata) 30 35.00
Goat fox 06 08.00
Brucellosis 05 04.00
Pneumonia 08 07.00
Mange 05 04.00
Total 120 100.00
Source: Field survey 2012

Table 3: Production constrain among goat farmers in the study area

Variable Frequency Percentage
High cost of feeds in the dry season 86 72
Farmers buy drugs in the veterinary clinic 66 55
High cost of orthodox drugs 84 70
Transportation problems from rural areas to market 78 65
Marketing facilities are provide in the market 18 15
Farmers are having problems of theft and accident 22 18
Farmers are having problems with ordour of male animals 34 28
Source: Field survey 2012

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