Animal Production
- Subject: Agriculture
- Size: 938.30 kibibytes
- Author: SEMPALA HUSSEIN
- File Type: PDF
- Added By: Wits College Namulanda
Factors determining the type and breed of livestock to be kept. • Climate: The high temperatures of the day tend to discourage most of the exotic animals of European origin and such animals are limited to particular areas of Uganda with favorable environmental. Conditions • Pests: The presence of pests like ticks and tsetse flies has limited the raring of exotic animals since they are more prone to tick borne-diseases like: East Coast fever, Red water, etc. • Availability of Feeds: Animals like pigs require high protein feeds which are expensive for most of the farmers. This may discourage the rearing of such animals where feeds are not available. • Diseases: Like swine fever in pigs, coccidiosis and new castle in poultry tend to limit the distribution of livestock in many parts of Uganda. • Risk baring capacity of the farmers: Most farmers in Uganda are peasants with low income. This means that such farmers cannot easily take high risks of looking after high value exotic animals like Friesian cattle. • A low level of skills and education among farmers: Most farmers in Uganda are illiterate and have little knowledge on how to manage live stock to look after. This will affect their choice of livestock and hence distribution. • The expected additional function of the animals: Animals that have many functions will always be liked and their distribution in an area is high e.g. Cattle. Cattle can provide meat, milk, manure and Labour which other animals may not • Religion and traditional beliefs: Some animals are viewed as unclean by certain religion and traditions e.g. The pigs among the Muslims. This meant that such people can’t look after the pigs. • Capital: In the presence of enough capital, a farmer can look after the highly productive exotic animals with less problems since he can raise all the necessary infrastructure like dips, perimeter fences, spray races e.t.c. • Government policy: Enabling policy has led to an increase in the distribution of livestock in some places e.g. restocking of cattle some areas in Uganda like Teso with cattle. • Market: The availability of market for certain livestock or their product in a particular area will increase their distribution and vice versa.