Community-Based Characterization of Afar Goat Breed, around Aysaita

Community based breed characterization was a comprehensive term recently developed to augment the conventional method which basically neglect the indigenous knowledge of the community in characterizing their animal genetic resource and the livelihood significances of the breed to the society. Ignoring such wealth of knowledge could partly be the reason why livestock genetic improvement programes in the tropics ended with unsatisfactory result. This work tries to document detail information on physical description of Afar goat breed, its breeding environment, socio-cultural and livelihood contribution as well as indigenous knowledge of associated community in shaping and managing the breed. It also outlines the breed's ability to strive and produce under the prevailing harsh environmental condition and traditional husbandry system. This comprehensive information, therefore, can be used in the formulation of sustainable utilization and in turn, conservation of the breed in the environment that have nurtured and shaped it. The adaptive and high milk yield traits of the breed admired by the community can also be an open research topics for further on-site investigation.