Abstract

The study was conducted at Arsi Negele District of Oromia Regional Administrative Zone with objectives of: (1) Assessing goat production situation of the area (2) identifying problems limiting goat production of the area, (3) Generating information for development practitioners working in the area to improve the situation. The sampled kebele were selected based on the potential of goat production and suitability of the area for transportation. Fifteen to twenty key informant farmers were identified with development workers for group discussion per the sampled kebele. Both female and male households were invited for group discussion. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques and methods were employed for data collection. A mix of PRA tools like group discussion, pair wise ranking, seasonal calendar and secondary data reviews were employed during data collection. The study is based on qualitative data analysis using descriptive statistics. From the current study it was realized that goat production is one of the major livelihood options for the goat keepers of the area. The study also identified that goat production plays a pivotal role in many ways for the goat keepers of the area. Its significance includes; serving as a source of milk, butter, and meat as well as income generation. In addition to this, it is considered as wealth and has contributed to social values. Furthermore, farmers also consider it as a risk mitigation strategy to cope with adverse environmental effects; this is mainly when shortage of rain occurs at the area or when scarcity of production occurs. Farmers also identified that goat production is advantageous because of having short generation intervals which give quick production for market. These huge contributions are also considered as the major reasons behind for keeping goat in the study area. Despite these benefits, goat rearing practices of the area have been constrained by many factors which can be categorized under genetic and non-genetic categories. The major non-genetic factors identified include; diseases like sheep and goat pox, diarrhea, ecto-parasite, circling disease, mastitis, anthrax, and pasteurellosis, shortage of feeds, weak extension services, and market related problems. Genetic related factors are mainly associated with lack of breed improvement interventions. Therefore, the study recommends that goat production extension package generation, development and popularization for the study area needs to be giving due attention by the stake holders working in the area. 

Key words: Arsi Bale goats, Oromia, Ethiopia.