Partnering for Sustainable Agricultural Development- The Case of Cardi and Partners in the Development of the Goat Industry in Jamaica

Partnering with relevant institutions and agencies is intrinsic in the design and execution of CARDI's R&D programmes. In Jamaica, CARDI has partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies - R&D Division of MoA (MoA-R&D), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (MoA-RADA) and the Veterinary Services Division (MoA-Vet) - the European Union (EU), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), ALP ART Mining Venture (ALPARTMINES) and the Goat Breeders Society of Jamaica (GBSJ) to develop the goat industry. In the early 1990s, with funding from EDF of the EU and CIDA, and within an enabling environment of Government policy support for the industry, CARDI partnered with MoA-R&D, MoA-RADA and MoA-Vet to develop and transfer housing, breeding, feeding and production technologies. The alliance, in collaboration with farmers, established the GBSJ, which subsequently spearheaded breed improvements and quality control, innovation and farmer education. Further financial input from ALPARTMINES in the late 1990s, and collaboration and synergy with their farmers' groups resulted in the establishment of the Sam Motta Goat Demonstration and Training Centre. This partnership of enabling environment, resource provision and investment, technical know-how, technology development and capacity building, and technology dissemination, and uptake and assimilation resulted in: (1) increased investments in goat farming, including 650 pedigree stock imported by farmers at a cost of US$1.1M, (2) increased productivity in liveweight at birth (66.2%), weaning (47.9%), and 8-10 months of age (85.9%>), and increased doe productivity index (72.4%), (3) more than 100 per cent increase each in the number of farm families earning part of their living from small ruminant production (from 27,000 to 59,600), the population of small ruminants (from 206,000 to 416,500) and local small ruminant meat production (from 618 to 1,375 MT), (4) stimulation of interest and involvement of corporate Jamaica in the small ruminant industry through the provision of dedicated small ruminant feeds and small ruminant veterinary products and tools.