Abstract:
Dairy goats in Tanzania accounts for two percent of the 17 million goats in total. Toggenburg, Saanen,
Norwegian, Anglo Nubian and French alpine are dominant exotic dairy breeds distributed in all regions of
Tanzania but abundance in Manyara, Morogoro, Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. Both public and private
organizations have played in importing and distribution the exotic breeds in the country. For example, the
collaboration between in Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and Norwegian University of Life
Sciences (NMBU) participated importing the Norwegian goat breed. The FARM Africa (Food and
Agricultural Research Management) and HPI (Heifer Project International) responsible for Toggenburg and
Saanen dairy breeds. The support with dairy goats has proven to be rather effective in improving food
security and livelihood of people who owned them. Long term benefits of the goats can be realized if
breeding principles are well considered e.g. reliable source of replacement breeding stock. As a step towards
achieving that, a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats (SWOT) analysis of a dairy goat breeding
program in Tanzania today were analysed in this paper. The analysis revealed potential possibilities for
establishing sustainable dairy goat breeding program in the country. However, poor and unreliable records
were the main hindrances for sustainable genetic improvement of goats in the country. Alternatively, this
paper propose a simplified breeding plan that benefits from progress made elsewhere through occasional
semen import for AI in one breeding nucleus herd in the country, multiplied by another unit/centre for
distribution to clients. Key roles and risks of private and public institutions participating in implementing the
breeding plan are highlighted.
