Local cattle breeds of Burkina Faso – characterization and sustainable utilization

Healthy and well-managed livestock is essential for the economic and social development in Burkina Faso. It has been identified as a strategic sub-sector to fight against poverty and allow sustainable development, especially in rural areas where the incidence of poverty is high (see Accelerated Growth Strategy and Sustainable Development, SCADD). The cattle population of Burkina Faso is currently around 8.5 Mio, providing draft power, meat and milk to the country as well as foreign exchange from exports. The varied natural resources of the country with the semi-arid Sahelian North and the sub-humid Sudanese South yielded a diverse local cattle population, with comparatively large and strong indicine (Zebu) cattle in the North and physically very small taurine cattle in the disease ridden South. African taurine trypanosomosis (AAT), transmitted by tsetse flies, is endemic in the South and is the most important parasitic disease causing enormous losses to the cattle population. In Sub Saharan Africa, the losses were estimated at € 1.5 billion (De la Rocque, 2003). This project aims to improve the genetic disposition for trypanotolerance of the local cattle population by development and utilization of cost-efficient devices indicating the genetic resistance of an animal to trypanosomosis, and to spread these resistant regions in the population by the means of simple breeding programs conducted in rural villages (community based breeding programs, CBBP). Farmers in the South of the country have traditionally tried to crossbreed their cattle with trypanosusceptible Zebu from the North as the body size of the local taurine cattle is too small for use in ploughing (Grace et al., 2009; Soudre, 2011). Improving animals in a more systematic way (via CBBP) and with extra information about the disposition of breeding animals has the potential to improve the situation substantially. The project also aims to provide a revised inventory of taurine local cattle breeds of the country to the government of Burkina Faso and the global data base of cattle breeds maintained by FAO by phenotypic and genetic characterization of a large number of animals. To achieve these goals, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Burkina Faso and Austria has been established based on previous experience and collaboration. The main goals of the project are capacity development by training three doctoral and six master students (three in Burkina Faso and three in Vienna) as well as strengthening the institutional collaboration of two universities and the national agricultural research institution. Public awareness about CBBP and systematic breeding will be created by active public relations work. Establishing new links and reinforcing the existing ones between the involved Burkinabe and Austrian researchers is an additional benefit for future endeavors.