Goat Breeding in the Katanga Copper Belt (KCB): Constraints, Opportunities and Prospects

Abstract

DR Congo’s copper belt is south of the dismembered former province of Katanga. The population has grown over the past twenty years due to the resumption of industrial and artisanal mining. This situation has led to an increase in demand for agricultural products including meat. The majority of these products are imported due to insufficient local production. Goat meat is the most consumed of the ruminants and most of these animals are imported from Zambia. Thousands of the goats are slaughtered daily and its meat sold in all markets and especially next to thousands of drinking establishments as appetizers. Unfortunately, this opportunity does not benefit local breeders because of several factors including the low productivity of the local goat, a stray breeding system, insufficiency and lack of space for breeding, contamination of pastures by heavy metals, insecurity, supremacy of the mining code over agricultural law, the dispossession of agricultural land belonging to peasants for the benefit of private farmers … In perspective, the establishment of a collaborative structure between breeders, development agents and technicians, researchers and policy makers in sectors related to goat farming and its environment will provide access to information and improve goat production.