Improving meat goat production in the semiarid tropics

In 1986, goats produced 2,100,000 MT of meat and 7,800,000 MT of milk. Goats in the developing countries provided about 90% of the meat and 74% of the milk of the world"s production. These numbers indicated not only a sizeable but also a highly valuable contribution made by goats to the supply of high�quality proteins for human populations that have very limited access to them. Because of the importance of goats and the many constraints on their production, the Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program (SR�CRSP) initiated in 1979 a multidisciplinary research effort to improve goat utility and productivity. To address the objectives as set forth at that time, the SR�CRSP developed a series of subprojects on range management to assess the sustainability of the feed supply while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource base; on sociology to assess the impact on the welfare of people, particularly the limited�resource goat owner; and on economics to predict the viability of alternative systems. These approaches are in addition to the applied biological sciences usually addressed by animal and veterinary scientists. This report summarizes the accomplishments of the research, training, and demonstration team in Brazil and the United States. (Author abstract)