Alemayehu, Gezahegn

Alemu, Biruk

Desta, Hiwot

Wieland, Barbara

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Key messages• Reproductive disorders and associated losses are an important constraint for small ruminant development in Ethiopia. • Designing and implementing appropriate interventions to optimize reproductive performance is key to improve livelihoods, particularly for women who are dependent on small ruminant production. • In order to control infectious causes for poor reproductive performance, it is important to identify and characterize them properly.Solutions • Training on cause,  impact, control and prevention of infectious diseases affecting fertility of small ruminants. • Farmers awareness creation about abortion and safety  precautions to minimize exposure to zoonoses. • Improve husbandry system, for example, through implementation of “focus feeding” coordinated with reproductive events to control the reproductive process and improve reproductive success. • Identifying and characterization of causes of abortion through systematic outbreak investigations.• Design and implement control options for important causes of abortion in sheep and goat. • Longitudinal monitoring and evaluation  of reproductive performance.Improving the reproductive performance of small ruminants Problem statement• The potential of small ruminants to improve livelihoods of smallholders is constrained by poor reproductive performance. Infectious diseases remain the most important constraints to the development of the sheep and goat industry. • Reproductive wastage in the form of abortion represents is an important cause financial loss. Also abortion can have severe public health implications since some pathogens involved are zoonotic. SmaRT Ethiopia intervention factsheet 15, May 2017Impact areas (low to high)Food securityHuman nutritionEmployment and livelihoodsNatural resources baseGender empowermentMarket linkagesContactsGezahegn Alemayehu, ILRI, gezahegn.alemayehu@cgiar.org; Biruk Alemu, ILRI, B.A.Gemeda@cgiar.org;  Hiwot Desta, ILRI, H.Desta@cgiar.org ; Barbara Wieland, ILRI, b.wieland@cgiar.orgAcknowledgementsThis is a product of the CGIAR research programs on Livestock and Fish (2012-2016) and LIVESTOCK (2017-2022) as well as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-funded SmaRT Ethiopia Project - Improving the Performance of Pro-Poor Sheep and Goat Value Chains for Enhanced Livelihoods, Food and Nutrition Security in Ethiopia. The project is led by ICARDA in collaboration with ILRI, national and other international partners. The Project thanks all donors and organizations who globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR system. Organizations contributing to this work are: ICARDA, ILRI, ARARI, OARI, SARI, TARIValue chain focusSuitability• The intervention is suitable in all production systems to alleviate poverty, subsistence livelihoods, food security and support women’s empowerment. • Ideally the intervention is implemented with interventions targeting breeding, health, gender, and feeding systems.  Resource requirements (low to high)LandWaterLabourCashAccess to inputsKnowledge and skillsBenefits• Increased lambing/kidding rates.• Increased small ruminants’ contribution torural livelihood security.• Improved awareness of the communityabout abortion and related zoonotic risk.• Increased involvement of the veterinariansand extension agents in herd healthmanagement and prevention of abortion.• Generate key evidence to inform researchand policy.Evidence• The role of some abortion causes in small ruminants, for example Brucella spp. has been documented for different regions in Ethiopia. A study in project sites found high prevalence for Chlamydia abortus, Toxolplasma gondii and Coxiella burnetii, all zoonotic pathogens for which very little is known in Ethiopia. Input & services Production Processing Marketing ConsumptionThis product is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.                                 May 2017

Improving the reproductive performance of small ruminants

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Improving the reproductive performance of small ruminants

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