The aim of this study was to evaluate accuracy of farmer's paternity identification which determines success of future breed selection and hence genetic gain. Paternity of 269 Orma/zebu and Sahiwal/zebu calves was evaluated using genetic markers and the likelihood based method. Results indicate that only 6.7% farmer alleged paternities were confirmed, 88% parent-offspring relationships were rejected and 18% parent-offspring relationships were undetermined. However, 82% of offsprings were assigned at least 80% confident paternities to one of the sampled candidate males.

In the northern highlands of Ethiopia, establishment of exclosures to restore degraded communal grazing lands has been practiced for the past three decades. However, empirical data on the effectiveness of exclosures in restoring degraded soils are lacking. We investigated the influence of exclosure age on degree of restoration of degraded soil and identified easily measurable biophysical and management-related factors that can be used to predict soil nutrient restoration.

Livestock production in arid and semi-arid rangelands is a risky enterprise. Covariate risk of catastrophic livestock loss due to drought is the most critical uninsured risk facing livestock producers. These losses can lead to persistent poverty. We are trying to design an index based livestock insurance (IBLI) program as a viable means to help pastoralists in northern Kenya manage such covariate risk of livestock losses due to drought.

Marketing transactions take place in an environment where information is shared and exchanged among and between sellers, buyers and middlemen. It is argued that traders and middlemen have a competitive advantage over producers in negotiating for prices, because the former have access to prices in both primary and terminal markets, while the latter only have limited access to prices in the primary markets. This Research Brief highlights the situation regarding access to livestock marketing information by producers in pastoral markets of Kenya.

Farmer-herder conflicts are enduring features of social life in the Sudano-Sahelian zone.

A survey was carried out between August and December 2004 in four sites in Niger,

namely Bokki, Katanga, Sabon Gida and Tountoubé to determine the proximate and

long-term causes of conflict over natural resource use, to evaluate the appropriateness of

existing institutional arrangements for managing conflicts and identify innovative options

and incentives to reduce the incidence and severity of conflicts. The research was

Outlines the principles and practices of fodder-bank establishment and management in the sub-humid zones of West Africa. Summarises data that indicate the benefit of fodder banks to subsequent crops.

A short-term improved fallow system based on forage legumes is suggested for crop-livestock farming systems in subhumid West Africa targeted to enhance soil fertility and dry season feed for cattle. At two sites, 13 legume species were compared with the natural fallow vegetation, the nutritive value of which typically fails to meet cattle requirements during the dry season. Establishment, dry matter yield and nutritive value of leguminous herbage in the year of establishment were evaluated as well as regeneration of legumes after a cropping phase.

A short-term improved fallow system based on forage legumes for enhancing crop and livestock components of mixed farming systems was tested in the subhumid zone of West Africa. As part of the evaluation, the ability of 11 legume species (Centrosema macrocarpum, C. pubescens, Stylosanthes guianensis, Pueraria phaseoloides, Mucuna pruriens, Zornia glabra, Dioclea guianensis, Arachis pintoi, Aeschynomene histrix, Calopogonium caeruleum, Flemingia macrophylla) to accumulate biomass and nitrogen after dry season harvest of herbage was assessed at 2 sites in south-west Nigeria.