Recommendations for genomic selection for improved animal
health
- Organized livestock production systems: cooperative farming; formation
of national breed societies with regulatory agencies.
- Government should train veterinarians and provide free/subsidized
veterinary services and medication. Increase/provide funding for
research on livestock diseases
- Systematic characterization of animal productivity in the various
production systems is necessary for implementation of improvement
strategies.
- Enabling government policies must be put in place to guide/define the
gainful exploitation of indigenous livestock and the roles of other
stakeholders (e.g., NGOs).
- Establishment of national/regional recording and improvement scheme
that will attract all stakeholders. Increase research funding and
upgrade infrastructure
- Provide funding to support characterization of production systems,
breeds and preservation of local breeds.
- Requires a robust national/regional cohesive strategy; more concerted
effort required to educate and change the orientation of national
policy makers toward funding of research in livestock sector;
increased funding by government; private sectors should be encouraged
to fund research; put in place infrastructure to deliver genomic
services. Develop customized SNP chips based on African livestock
populations. Devote financial resources to creating large reference
populations with well phenotyped and genotyped animals.
- Implementation of appropriate biosafety measures and regulatory
mechanisms.
- Capacity building for all stakeholders (farmers, policy makers,
students, and professionals); Train Ph.D. level manpower to measure
‘not too easy to measure’ traits and statistical ability to handle big
data. Collaborative research and implementation of improvement
techniques with experts in Western countries.
- Building effective breed association to support producer decisions
when needed.
- Government funding to support establishment of breed associations. Use
of artificial insemination even in small holder systems will help to
create genetic linkages across livestock populations.
- Training and adequate funding to support sustained long- term breeding
programs.
- Donor organization to also support sustained long-term programs with
participation of producers. Require certain roles of the breeding
business section to contribute to sustainability of the development of
livestock breeding.
- Appropriate selection programs adapted to each production system
implemented; genomic selection suitable for all production systems;
selection in nucleus herds using artificial insemination, embryo
transfer or embryo sexing; development of appropriate
methods/procedures of genotyping and genomic predictions for joint
evaluations of small populations.