Developing goat & sheep production systems in Myanmar

Project Details

Woman wearing a conical hat leading a herd of goats in a field with tall palm trees in the background

Goats and sheep (‘small ruminants’) are important livestock species in the Central Dry Zone (CDZ) of Myanmar, often kept by poorer and landless households. They are often an important agricultural activity for women.

However, smallholder farming is usually opportunistic, with no control of breeding, little nutritional management, poor connections to markets and market demand. Smallholders could capture more value from raising SRs, especially as regional demand for red meat increases, as the CDZ is ideally located between the rapidly emerging middle class populations in neighbouring China and India.

Veterinarians, animal scientists and livelihood researchers from Myanmar’s Livestock Breeding & Veterinary Department, University of Veterinary Science and Yezin Agricultural University, and the University of Melbourne are conducting on-farm research with smallholder farmers to improve health, management and productivity of small ruminants using locally relevant, best-practice management.

Project Objectives

This project has five objectives:

  1. Analyse small ruminant value chains in Myanmar and improve capacity of farmers to target specific markets.
  2. Promote better nutritional management of small ruminants through use of improved feeds and feeding systems .
  3. Improve fertility and reproductive efficiency in small ruminant flocks through better
    breeding management .
  4. Improve small ruminant health and reduce disease risks to increase productivity and contribute to national disease control efforts.
  5. Deliver benefits of small ruminant farming to the whole family—women, men and youth—and increase resilience to external threats to farming through a better understanding of family member roles.

Researchers

Dr Angus Campbell

Max Barot

Collaborators

Dr Myint Naing, Director, LBVD, Nay Pyi Taw
Dr Aung Aung, Head, Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, UVS, Yezin
Dr Kyaw Kyaw Win, Head, Department of Agronomy, YAU, Yezin

Research Outcomes

Online Gender Workshop 
This workshop is designed to help research students and staff across the agricultural disciplines think about how gender is relevant to their research and fieldwork and how they might start to incorporate gender into their research planning.

Research Group

One Health




Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact the research group leader.

Department / Centre

Nossal Institute for Global Health

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