By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA? –

MISAMFU Regional Research Centre will create the first national goat database which will enable the farmers countrywide to access information on the local breeds.
Senior livestock research officer Mwambulwa Kabemba said a team of researchers was compiling reams of data on goats-genetic variation, performance and climate adaptability to create the first national goat database.
Mr Kabemba said goats evolvedto suit their environment but right now, there were a lot of random breeding, without much science.
“If you take a goat native to your area and breed it with an outsider, you are wiping out everything natural selection has helped fix. We want to learn what makes different goats suited to their environments,” he said.
In an interview, Mr Kabemba said currently, there was no information on the local goats, hence the need to compile the data.
This will enable the farmers to have access to information on the various types of goats available in Zambia.
He said if one had to search for Boer goat from South Africa there was a lot of information on it and its performance, saying the Government was also trying to ensure that such data was generated.
Meanwhile, Mr Kabemba said the Government was carrying out an experiment to determine whether cassava could be used as an alternative stockfeed.
“As you know in this Northern region we have a lot of cassava which is produced and farmers don’t really have a market for it. We are doing some experiments on the cassava so that maybe our farmers could use it as stockfeed.
“Cassava is much cheaper than maize and it has proteins as well. We need to incorporate cassava in the stockfeed and reduce demand on maize,” Mr Kabemba said.