KABORE Adama, TRAORE Amadou, GNANDA B. Isidoro, NIGNAN Man, TAMBOURA H Hamidou, BELE M A. M. Gaston
This study was undertaken to assess constraints in small ruminant production among farming management system using a structured questionnaire in two sites (Saaba and Saponé) located in the periurban area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Between March 2008 to February 2009, data were collected from eighty (80) small ruminant smallholder farmers practicing traditional raising system. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency and percentages were used. The main results revealed that smallholder farmers raise several animal species among which the small ruminants take major place in their livelihood. The impact of thefts (56.2%) proved to be the main reasons of the animal losses followed by predators (37.5%) and animal diseases (33.7%). To avoid the losses/or mortalities of animals bound to the identified constraints, the smallholder farmers combined the sales, the consumption, slaughtering and the treatment of sick animals. Respiratory affections (37.2%), diarrhoea (31.7%) and trypanosomosis (25.5%) are the main pathologies of the small ruminants in the periurban area of the study area.. The therapeutic methods used by smallholder farmers against these affections are the use of modern (100%) and traditional (23.7%) medicine. Otherwise, the survey revealed that the majority of smallholder farmers raise small ruminants to have a source of incomes at all times to improve their family living conditions.
