Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.2
Goat products and services in Asia.
marriage ceremonies, and are even used for sport and rec-
reation. In harsh semiarid and arid environments such as
the Sahel, Near East region, and northern parts of the Indian
subcontinent to which the species are well adapted, poor
and landless farmers often increase the size of their goat
fl ocks to provide greater food and economic security.
Products
Services
Meat (raw, cooked, blood,
soup, goat meat extract—
“ Zeungtang ” in Korea)
*
Cash income and
investment
Security and insurance
Prestige in ownership
Gifts and loans
Religious rituals (e.g.,
sacrifi cial slaughter)
Human nutrition —
benefi cial characteristics
of meat and milk
Pack transport
Draught power
Medicine
Control of bush
encroachment
Guiding sheep for grazing
Milk (fresh, sour, yogurt,
butter, cheese)
Skins (clothes, shoes,
water/grain containers,
tents, handcraft,
shadow play in
Indonesia, thongs, etc.)
Hair (cashmere, mohair,
garments, coarse hair
rugs, tents, ropes, wigs,
fi sh lures)
Horns
Bones (handcraft)
Manure and urine
(crops, fi sh)
POPULATION SIZE AND GLOBAL
DISTRIBUTION
Table 1.3 tabulates the total population size and the global
distribution of goats. Several items of note follow:
The total world population of goats in 2007 was about
850 million.
The developing countries claim about 41% of the goat
population.
The low - income, food - defi cit countries had about 86%
of the goat population.
The largest goat population is in Asia (545 million)
followed by Africa (245 million). Combined, these two
continents accounted for about 93% of the world's total
goat population.
During the period of 1986-2007, the annual growth of
the goat population was 3.5% per year, with growth rate
in developing countries of 4.5%. Of the developing
nations, only Latin America and the Caribbean had a
very low population growth rate for goats.
In Europe, goats had a negative growth rate. But Europe
had 2% of the total world goat population with a sizeable
number of breeds (26% of breeds), many of which have
been introduced into other countries.
Oceania had the highest negative growth rate and only
0.1% of the total world goat population. But it is among
the highest exporters of goat meat.
North America had the smallest goat population of about
3 million or about 0.3% of the total goat population, but
it has an impressive population growth rate of 3.4%
among developed countries.
* With goats: Total edible proportion is 61%. Total
saleable proportion is 82%.
Source: Devendra, 2007a.
biological advantages over other species. The following
benefi ts are noteworthy (Devendra, 1998):
Income: means to earn supplemental money
Food: provide animal proteins (milk and meat) for the
nutritional well-being of peasants, particularly the
undernourished
Security: form for investment, maintenance of assets,
security, and economic stability
Employment: creation of jobs, including effective utili-
zation of family labor
Fertilizer: contributes to crop production and farm fertil-
ity through the return of dung and urine
By - product utilization: using nonmarketable crop resi-
dues to generate value-added products (for example,
meat, fi ber, and skins)
Social values: increases cohesiveness in village activi-
ties and religious ceremonies
Recreation: buck fi ghting and buck races
The small size of the goat contributes to its popularity.
Goats help to meet daily food needs (meat and milk), are
easily sold as a source of cash, provide insurance and col-
lateral for various agricultural activities, are valued in
religious ceremonies including sacrifi ces, are gifts during
Table 1.3 shows how goats are distributed very widely
globally across a wide variety of agroecological zones
(AEZ). Historically, distinct dispersion routes enabled the
spread of goats leading to their wide distribution. Such
trade routes continue to be used today. Examples would
include the early settlement of the West Indies where goats
often were carried aboard ships to supply fresh milk during
voyages. Thereby, goats from India were introduced to
Trinidad, Guyana, and Jamaica. Likewise, goats accompa-
nied immigrants aboard the ship with Captain Cook to
Australia in the eighteenth century. Asia, western Asia,
and the Indian subcontinent were especially important as
