Extension System for Livestock Development in Developing Countries: Knowledge Management Application

Abstract

Smallholder livestock farmers represent almost 20 per cent of the world population and steward most of the agricultural land in the tropics (McDermott et al., 2010). Two-thirds of the world’s domestic animals are kept in developing countries, where over 90 percent are owned by rural small holders. They dominate crop–livestock systems, with livestock playing an essential role in highly diversi ed livelihood strategies that typically combine crops and livestock with off- farm activities (Ellis and Freeman, 2004; Deshingkar et al., 2008). In Asia and large areas of Latin America and Africa, a major role of animal such as cattle and buffaloes are to provide draught power. The major constraints for improving livestock productivity, where production ef ciency is only one-quarter of that in developed regions, include a devastating animal disease burden, a near-ubiquitous shortage of good-quality livestock feeds, rapidly diminishing forage and natural biodiversity, poor access to markets, and unresponsive policy environments.