The Status of Cattle Genetic Resources in West Africa: A Review

The current review focuses on phenotypic characterization of West African cattle breeds for the development of breeding programmes for indigenous beef cattle genetic resources. Indigenous cattle breeds found in West Africa were identified and characterized using information from refereed journals, conference papers and research reports. A data mining exercise was carried out at the start of the review. Different literature search systems were used. The choice of a search system to be utilised was based on the database involved. Approximately 400 academic journal papers, refereed conference papers and peer reviewed research reports on livestock characterisation in Africa in general were found. A process of selecting the most relevant ones to the current review was carried out through scanning through each publication abstract. Results of this review indicates that smallholder cattle production in West Africa is extensive and dominated by indigenous cattle breeds with ability to adapt to the local environment. The breeds include Somba, Lagune, Muturu, N'Dama, Kuri, Maure, Azawak, Gudali, Shuwa, White Fulani, Djelli, Gobra, Ketekou, Ghana Sanga and Borgou. The contributions of these breeds to West African country's economy ranges from provision of food, cultural and ecological roles as well as a source of income. They also have adaptive traits including but not limited to tolerance to ticks and tick-borne diseases, heat and diseases such as trypanosomiasis. Although smallholder cattle farming systems contributes substantially to household food security and income, their productivity is hindered by several constraints including high prevalence of diseases and parasites, limited food availability and poor marketing.