Goats: Help Families Become Self-Sufficient

After the first 6 months the project was implemented there were 15 members who unfortunately lost the goats they received and 3 goats also died. There are 3 things that caused these deaths:

• Poor transport conditions from the place of purchase to the place where the Organizations distribute them (the roads are not good)

• Problems adapting to their new environment 

• There is an epidemic of diarrhea in the area 

The herd is stable now, and the members continue to take care of the animals, feeding them regularly. The Veterinary Agents involved in the project help a lot with prevention and take care of sick animals, thanks to the medicine that Lambi Fund bought for the Organization. Because of the problems that existed, the transport could not be done at the time they were born. Mother goats do not reproduce much and the number of goats that were to be born have not been born as we expected. Several cases of miscarriage were registered in the project. But with continued care and feeding, the number of goats should increase.

Lambi Fund is currently partnering on  a goat breeding project implemented by the MPPDSCA Organization (Progressive Peasant Movement Twelfth Section of the Aken commune) which is located in the Southern Department of Haiti.

The organization made this request because its members and others in the community do a lot of farming, especially goat farming. This activity provides a source of income for the peasants. When the animals reproduce, the peasants have more kids to sell, which allows them to solve problems that usually fall on them in an emergency in the family, such as cases of illness, death, etc. In addition to this economic aspect, the Organization believes that the project will allow it to have more opportunities to strengthen itself and also make more meat available on site in the community. For all these reasons Lambi Fund decided to help the Organization find the means to set up this small breeding project for its members.

The MPPDSCA project started with a herd of 70 goats, 64 females and 6 males. The organization distributed these first goats to members who have a lot of experience in raising goats and also have space for the animals to find food to eat. Beneficiary members are distributed among the seven villages in the section.

Here is the strategy adopted by the Organization in the project: the goats will be reared in the backyard of the beneficiary members where they will look for grass to feed them, and where the kids will be born. When the kids are born, the beneficiary members will give part of the litter to the Organization to distribute to the members who have not yet gotten any goats  and the other part will remain for the member who was taking care of the goat.

So there are 64 members who received 64 female goats and 6 male goats were distributed to group managers in each of the villages. These managers will have the responsibility to take care of the male goats and control the reproduction of the females. As it was also foreseen in the project strategy, each beneficiary is feeding his animals but they help the managers to get food for their village as well.