Goat meat production in Mauritius: status, women involvement and prospects for development towards better food security.

Goat meat production in Mauritius: status, women involvement and prospects for development towards better food security

Saddul, D. *  

Livestock Research Dept., Food and Agricultural Research & Extension Institute, Reduit, Republic of Mauritius, Indian Ocean

Background

Goats in Mauritius are reared mostly for the meat and is a part-time activity involving to a great extent the women. Goat meat is consumed by all ethnical groups and there is a sustained demand throughout the year, in particular, during end of year festivities, for weddings and religious ceremonies. Goat rearing is a lucrative activity and there is a growing interest among existing and prospective farmers to shift from the traditional system towards adoption of a professional approach for increased productivity of the local and Boer breeds to generate better revenue. An overview of the goat sector in Mauritius is presented with emphasis on the role of women.

Materials and Methods

This paper is a descriptive desk research based on official statistics (local and trade data) as well as informal surveys carried out during on-farm research and development projects.

Results

The goat sector comprises about 27 000 heads owned by about 2 800 farmers, among whom 34% are women who share their time between housekeeping and goat rearing. Women farmers have a key role as free family labour in the day to day farming activities, which include fodder collection, feeding, cleaning of sheds, animal care and decision taking on sale of surplus animals. They also attend meetings, farm visits and trainings intended for empowerment of farmers. They are thus instrumental in the dissemination of acquired knowledge. However, they are rarely involved in decision taking regarding market price of animals for sale and in cashing revenue from sales of animals. Goats are reared mostly in sheds of varying sizes in the backyards and this is a convenient system that allows women farmers to attend to household chores as well as collecting fodder everyday as a routine activity. In areas where farms are closely located, women form small groups and walk to collect fodder by roadsides, sugarcane fields, forest lands or marginal lands. Fodder is then carried as piles on the head. This activity serves to reinforce the neighbourhood relationship and for sharing family and goat-related issues, including sale/exchange of animals which is also carried out at farm gate as live animals through butchers and direct contact with consumers, given that there is no structured marketing of goats.  On-farm studies conducted were satisfactorily successful and relied significantly on the collaboration of women farmers in data collection for establishing baseline data on rearing practices and for adopting improved practices in view of enhancing animal productivity and revenue earnings.