When I first moved to Haiti in 2010 I was
taught a proverb in Haitian Creole which explained the nature of the residents
of Thomazeau. "Le cabrit de Thomazeau á mem plem et mem plumage,"
which literally translates to "the goats of Thomazeau have the same skin
and the same hair." What this figuratively means is that if you see some
men from Thomazeau in a fight you should not get in between them as they are
cousins and will soon make up. This weekend IDEA Ops travelled to Thomazeau,
Haiti. What I realized while
surveying the actual goats of Thomazeau was that this phrase's literal meaning
also implies that they are all inbred, which in fact they are. The serious level of inbreeding has led
to very poor quality goats, poor feed-to-growth conversion ratios, genetic
deformities, high levels of abortion at all stages of pregnancy, and stunted
growth rates. The goats of Thomazeau need a larger gene pool.
Partnering with Live Beyond, IDEA Ops surveyed
the farmers throughout the area to determine their needs in raising goats. We
collected excellent data though we found the farmers are in desperate need of
education and herd improvement. IDEA Ops is currently in the process of writing
a grant proposal to the USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service for goat genetic
improvement through artificial insemination.
Partnering with Prairie View A&M
University's International Goat Research Center and their director, Dr. Gary
Newton, IDEA Ops is planning a program that will improve the genetic diversity
of goats throughout Thomazeau through artificial insemination. The goals are to
increase the economic
stability, market accessibility, and nutritional availability of smallholder
goat herders in Thomazeau, Haiti. This will be accomplished through a participatory program
that educates the herders on the basic principles of goat management, improves
the overall herd health through artificial insemination, castration, and
veterinary extension, and develops the infrastructure capacity of each participating
member. The stakeholders are
impoverished, subsistence farmers. Their average herd size is a dozen goats and
if they own land it is usually no larger than one hectare. The residents of Thomazeau largely
depend upon goat meat as their primary source of animal protein and since the
goats never reach a truly marketable size and cost more to raise over an
extended period of time the final expense to the consumer is higher than the
low quality product should demand.
This results in serious malnutrition due to a lack of protein intake, a
continuous cycle of poverty and food insecurity, and very few opportunities to
expand their market.
By improving the education, methodology, and
capacity of each goat farmer in Thomazeau, Haiti not only will the health of
the goats improve but the financial security, educational levels, and health of
every farmer and their families will increase drastically as well. IDEA Ops'
mission is to "Relieve Oppression through Development." We
recognize that the residents of Thomazeau are oppressed by poverty, poor
health, and a lack of education and we are committed to working with the locals
to see their levels of development improve.
