Making it easier to keep small animals. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R6774:Strategies for integrating and optimising livestock production in forest margin farming systems.
In partnership with producers, studies have identified the problems that farmers living at the edges of forests in tropical Bolivia face when keeping small animals. The research addressed the needs of chickens, ducks, pigs, hair sheep and guinea pigs—all of which had been ignored by past studies. Once problems had been identified, it was possible to solve many of them using very simple measures. The number of chicks, piglets and lambs that died was reduced simply by applying up-todate veterinary guidelines for vaccination and parasite control, for example. Improving housing and building nest-boxes and farrowing pens also increased the survival rate of piglets and chicks. Applying this approach elsewhere could greatly improve the livelihoods of poor families keeping different types of small animals.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (10 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
LPP20, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 71.