ILCA Working Paper 1
December 1990
International Livestock Centre for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
ILCA
The international Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) was established by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in 1974. ILCA is an autonomous, non-profit-making research, training and information centre with a mandate to improve livestock production throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It is supported by a number of CGIAR members including countries, development banks, international organisations and foundations.
ILCA conducts its own research programme, works closely with national agricultural research systems (NARS) in collaborative research projects and seeks to develop the research capacities of NARS by providing specialised training programmes and a range of information services.
ILCA Working Paper series
The ILCA Working Paper series comprise informally reviewed data analyses, case studies, systems studies and reference materials dealing with livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa.
ILCA Working Paper are distributed to a limited number of the Centre's general audience concerned with the particular subject discussed, with the aim of informing interested readers about past and on-going research and to stimulate discussion. They are not rigorously edited, and thus do not meet the standard of official ILCA publications. The views expressed in ILCA Working Papers do not necessarily reflect those of ILCA.
Comments on this paper are invited, and should be addressed to the (senior) author.
Correct citation: ILCA (International Livestock Centre for Africa). 1990. Livestock systems research manual. Working Paper 1, Vol. 1. ILCA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 287 pp.
ISBN: 92-9053-173-2
This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software and careful manual recorrection. Even if the quality of digitalisation is high, the FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.
Part A: Fundamental considerations in livestock systems research
The system perspective
Sequencing livestock systems research
Practical considerations in livestock systems researchPart B: Livestock systems research at ILCA
Part C: A guide to the layout of the manual
Section 1, entitled DESCRIPTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS, is divided into 11 modules
Section 2, entitled LIVESTOCK ON-FARM TRIALS, is concerned with phases 2 and 3 in livestock systems research, it is divided into three modules
Section 1 - Module 1: Baseline data and exploratory surveys in livestock systems research
Part A: Purposes
Part B: Types of data
General characteristics of the study area
Specific characteristics of farmers/pastoralists
Available technologyPart C: Methods of data collection
Use of secondary data
Types of informal survey
Technology pre-screeningIntroduction
Why wealth ranking is used
1. Background information
2. Selection of communities
3. Selection of informants
4. Definition of basic terms
5. List of household heads
6. Community ranking by wealth
Section 1 - Module 2: Diagnostic surveys in livestock systems research
Part A: Purposes
Part B: Types of survey
Single-visit, single-subject surveys
Single-visit, multiple-subject surveys
Multiple-visit, single-subject surveys
Multiple-visit, multiple-subject surveysPart C: Methods of data collection
Scheduling of survey operations
Design of questionnaires and record sheets
Recruitment, training and supervision of enumerators
Pilot testing of questionnaires
Sources of error
Sampling methods and errors
Section 1 - Module 3: Labour inputs
Relationships between labour, livestock production and other farm and non-farm activities
Feasibility of new technologyPart C: Methods of data collection
Time-allocation method
Critical task analysis
Continuous recall survey
Appendix
Section 1 - Module 4: Household budgets and assets
The effect of income, expenditure and asset ownership on livestock production and other farm and non-farm activities
Determining the suitability of new technologyPart C: Methods of data collection
Once-off recall methods
Intermittent recall methods
Continuous recall methods
Section 1 - Module 5: Animal production
Inter-species composition of the livestock holding
Herd/flock structure
Reproductive performance
Mortality
Post-weaning mortality
Growth and weight gain
OutputsPart C: Methods of data collection
Herd/flock structure
Reproductive performance
Mortality
Growth and weight gain
Outputs
Section 1 - Module 6: Range resource evaluation
Part A: Definitions and concepts
Vegetation definitions and concepts
Management definitions and conceptsLivestock- Range interactions
Scope for technological improvementObjectives of data collection
Ground, aerial and remote sensing dataPart D: Methods of data collection
Ground-survey methods for vegetation studies
Ground-survey methods for soil studies
Section 1 - Module 7: Animal nutrition
Diagnostic research on animal nutrition problems
The nature of nutritional constraints
Scope for improvementPart D: Methods of data collection
Effects of nutrition on animal production performance
Composition of consumed feed
Feed digestibility
Nutritive value of feed
Section 1 - Module 8: Animal health
Identifying and ranking the prevalent diseases in the target area
Quantifying the effects of disease on animal production performance
Identifying the determinants of diseasePart C: Methods of data collection
Section 1 - Module 9: Livestock marketing
Part A: Concepts and definitions
Part B: Purposes
Price - Exchange relationships
Physical and facilitating functions and their efficiencyPart D: Methods of data collection
Section 1 - Module 10: Management practices
Definition
Indicators
Spurious indicators and relationships
Principal considerations in measuring management
Methods used to measure management
Management relationships
Section 1 - Module 11: Organisation, presentation and analysis of results
Part A: Organising and presenting data
Part B: Analysing data from samples
Standard errors
Confidence intervals
Testing for differences between two groups - The t-test
Testing for relationships between categories - The chi-squared test
Linear correlation and regression
Standard errors and confidence intervals of regression coefficients
Some general comments about linear regression analysis