Category: Tanzania

Small ruminant production in Tanzania - Fact sheet

1/1/2021

Small ruminants (goats and sheep) are kept for multiple purposes and provide a modest, but increasing, contribution to national production of red meat and milk. Most products are consumed by the household or traded through informal markets.

Industry snapshot:

Tanzania has the 11th largest population of small ruminants in Africa.
19 million goats & 5.6 million sheep – kept for production of meat, milk, fibre & skins.
Small ruminants are most common in the pastoral and agro-pastoral regions of Central Tanzania and the Lakes.
Small ruminants contribute 17% of national red meat and 13% of national milk production.

Small ruminant population by agricultural zone (Ministry of Agriculture 2018)

Small ruminant production systems
Pastoralism with larger herds

Groups of 20-200 local livestock free-graze extensive communal grazing lands during the day, and are brought into an enclosed pen at night for security.
Animals are kept predominantly for meat production, but may also be milked.

Smallholder herds

Groups of 1-20 local livestock graze communal lands during the day, and are brought inside at night.
Animals kept for both meat and milk production.

Smallholder intensive

Crossbred and improved livestock are stall fed grass or fodder cut from communal land.
Focus is mainly on dairy production.

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Coenurus cerebralis in Tanzania and Kenya

11/13/2017

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Written by Dr. Beppe Di Giulio

I, a veterinarian based in Arusha, Tanzania, would like to report a high morbidity/mortality in sheep and goats in the Southern part of Kenya and Northern part of Tanzania, possibly caused by Coenurus cerebralis. The term “possibly” is applied since the diagnosis is based only upon the finding of cysts localized outside the animal’s brains.

The Maasai call the disease “Ormilo” (head disease). They started complaining about it some 10 years ago; during the past 3 years, the reported morbidity-mortality has reached around 20 percent. Today, Ormilo is the main Maasai’s concern among the small ruminant diseases/parasitoses. Ormilo is reported to affect both goats and sheep at any time of the year. It is reported to be more prevalent in 1 to 3-year-old animals.

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Small ruminant production in Tanzania - Fact sheet

Coenurus cerebralis in Tanzania and Kenya

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