OP-8.2: Number of improved livestock breeds accessed by farm households

Definition: Improved livestock breeds are a result of genetic selection and ultimately constitute of genetic material that has been tested and found to be of higher-yield, higher in nutritional content, and/or more resilient to climate impacts.

Unit of Measure: Count

Disaggregated by: Livestock type, Improved trait, Gender of the household head or livestock owner (Male, Female), Geographic location (national, sub-national)
Livestock type: Goats, Sheep, Cattle
Improved trait: Resistance to parasites and diseases, milk production, meat production, resistance to adverse climatic conditions

Method of Calculation: Summation of the count by breed and livestock type

Data sources:
Direct delivery system: Records of distribution events
Indirect delivery system: Farm household, Next-user organizations (NARS, private sector companies e.t.c)

Data collection method:
Direct delivery system: Recording of quantities received by recipients of livestock development support
Indirect delivery system: Farm household surveys, Input market surveys; Interviews with next-user organization staff; Review of next-user organization records.

Data collection and reporting responsibility: Program leaders, project leaders, country managers, project M&E focal points

Data collection and reporting frequency:
Direct delivery system: Routine data collection, semi-annual reporting
Indirect delivery system: Annual data collection, annual reporting

Evidence required:
Direct delivery system: Livestock distribution records
Indirect delivery system: Next-user records, Key informant interview transcripts; study protocol, data collection tools, request for proposals (RFP) document/ToR, inception report, dataset, data analysis notes/summary/do-files, final report

Rationale: Improved livestock breeds provide an avenue for delivering the benefits of genetic improvement to farmers. Such breeds enahnce farm households' ability to adapt to future changes in climate and economically important traits help farming households meet consumer demand. This indicator therefore measures the magnitude/intensity of access to/receipt of improved breeds as a way of determinig the scope of aforementioned gains that have been delivered to farm households.

Comments and limitations: Improved livestock breeds tend to be input-intensive and require the adoption of improved management practices compared to local breeds. So tracking the number of livestock accessed by farm households may not provide a longer-term understanding on the farm households' capability to maintain the improved breeds. Such an indicator is better complemented by indicator OC-4.2.