| dc.description.abstract | The first study was initiated with the objectives of analyzing the production stage of the goat
milk value chain and prevalence of caprine mastitis and its impact on the value chain. The study
was conducted in the Gaborone agricultural region of Botswana. The primary data was
collected using a participatory survey from purposefully selected samples of 9/ farmers, 4
traders and 220 consumers through self-administered questionnaires. The results show that 88%
of the farmers were subsistence orientated meanwhile semi-commercial and commercial farmers
constituted 11% and 1 % respectively. A mean milk yield of 1.18L /goat/ per day was produced
across farms and this was mostly channeled towards the 88.6% of non-purchasing consumers
for home consumption. The average lactation length in the region was 5.37 months, therefore
affecting milk consumption and availability patterns. However, unavailability of land, shortage
of feeds, labour and disease were some of the challenges affecting goat milk producers. Caprine
mastitis as an important constraint in the milk production chain affected 41.8'% of the farms
across the region. Respondents failing to adopt mastitis detection methods, treatments, CCP's,
culling and isolation, exhibited high mastitis prevalence rates compared to their counterparts.
Thus negatively affecting farmer and animal productivity’ due to the decline in milk yield and kid
survival. In view of the large number of farms affected by caprine mastitis, a cross-sectional
study was conducted to determine the prevalence of mastitis in lactating goats. A total of 163
lactating goats were purposefully selected from 17 flocks in the Oodi extension area. The results
were analyzed using the multiple logistic regression models of SAS. An overall prevalence of
17.78%> was recorded. Meanwhile the clinical and subclinical mastitis prevalence was 4.29%
and 13.49% respectively. A significant (P<0.05) association between mastitis occurrence and
risk factors (parity, previous mastitis history, injuries and lesions on the udder and teats, breed,
production system, flock size and suckling litter size) was reported. Dairy goat development
policies should be aimed at increasing farmers' access to inputs, developing and improving
infrastructure, cooperative development and improving extension system. Such policies will
positively support mastitis management, food safety and value chain functions. | en_US |
