African countries to work towards improving livestock data


Lazarus Sauti

Countries within and across the great African continent still suffer from a lack of good quality data on livestock that could be used to measure and improve progress as well as inform policymaking processes.

This is so because good data are crucial for identifying effective public and private sector investment opportunities.

More so, good data help to improve the livelihoods of smallholder livestock producers in Africa.

Ugo Pica-Ciamarra, Food and Agricultural Organisation livestock economist, says improving the quantity and quality of livestock data can make the sector economically sustainable.

Pica-Ciamarra said, “Improving the quantity and quality of livestock data for decision-makers, better policies and investments, will not only ensure livestock sector development and bring benefits to many livestock keepers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), but also make the sector economically and environmentally sustainable.”

Kiama Stephen Gitahi, professor of animal production at the University of Nairobi, notes that the nomadic lifestyles of livestock keepers poses great challenges to initiatives of improving livestock data in Africa, as researchers may not be able to reach many of them.

He said, “Nomadic lifestyles provides a challenge, as the animals keep moving and most communities are normally not willing to provide the correct number of their animals.”

To improve livestock data, ministers responsible for Animal Resources in Africa should urge their respective Member States to enhance capacity for timely collection, analysis and sharing of quality data to guide policy, strategy and investment programmes.

At present there is a serious paucity of statistical data on which to base marketing, investment, or policy decisions, or with which to assess the efficacy of current commitments or policies.

This is according to the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics, 2011).

Sharing the same sentiments, the AU-IBAR Strategic Plan, 2010-2014 states, “There is… inadequate data to demonstrate quantitatively the role of animal resources in African economies, and to use such data to create broad awareness among policy-makers and investors.

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