Goat farmers put food security in spotlight - European Union-funded project in Hanover reaping rewards - Western Focus - Jamaica Gleaner - Saturday | August 25, 2012

 

 

Published: Saturday | August 25, 2012 

 

Osmond Welsh and his nephew, Oneil, stand in front of the goat house that was funded by the European Union.

 Osmond Welsh's goat-rearing farm in Burnt Ground, Hanover.


Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer

The goat-rearing pilot project for the parish of Hanover has begun to yield success, according to farmer and past president of the Jamaica Goat Farmers' Association, Osmond Welsh.

The project, which is located in the Burnt Ground community, is the fruit of an initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the European Union (EU), and the Jamaica Goat Farmers Association, that ran from 2009 to November 2011.

Welsh said that he wants the farmers to utilise the resource centre to enhance their businesses.

"This is an excellent way for goat farmers to learn about best practices in goat rearing, get information, and see how they can improve what they are doing to get the best results," Welsh said.

The EU-funded project, which is housed on Welsh's 10-acre property, serves farmers in St James and Hanover, and consists of a goat house and storage area.

ISLAND WIDE PROJECTS

Aimed at strengthening Jamaica's food security, the EU donated J$85 million towards the development of pilot projects in 13 parishes across the island.

The National Food Security Programme was launched in 2009 with the view that as food prices are expected to continue rising, importing countries like Jamaica would begin to face challenges.

Jamaica has a high annual importation bill, and goat meat is one of the commodities the country continues to import.

"As a goat farmer, I want other farmers - and persons interested in this area of agriculture - to know about the pilot projects, because they will go a far way in developing interest in this sector," Welsh stated.

"There are several economic benefits that Jamaica can derive from goat rearing, whether it's the meat, milk, or cheese. All of these have the potential, if done properly, to provide employment and give goat farmers a viable source of income."

ENSURING VIABILITY

Welsh wants the Government to continue to partner with goat farmers to better advance the efforts to make the sector viable.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Roger Clarke has been lobbying for an overhaul of the industry to include innovative approaches to guarantee the country's food security.

"We are at crunch time, ladies and gentlemen, and it cannot be business as usual. We have to change our approach," Clarke said during a keynote address at the 2012 Montpelier Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in St James.

"We have to invest in ourselves and rely on others to do so. We have to begin to change our agricultural practices to gain efficiencies."

Clarke stressed that a critical component of the paradigm shift is consumer groups, which can support the industry by buying local agricultural produce. This buy-in, he explained, will help lower the country's food import bill, which currently stands at more than US$800 million.

LINK: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120825/western/western1.html

Goat farmers put food security in spotlight - European Union-funded project in Hanover reaping rewards - Western Focus - Jamaica Gleaner - Saturday | August 25, 2012

Gift of a Goat

Gift of a goat brings hope of economic independence

Goats are a cultural tradition

October 28, 2009 - In Plan Canada’s Toronto offices, Ndungu Kahihu is many miles and many years from his childhood in Kenya. But when he’s promoting the purchase of a goat through Plan’s Gifts of Hope program, he’s advocating a cultural tradition that was central to his African roots for generations.
“Goats have been a part of African communities for thousands of years,” said Kahihu, Director, Technical Policy and Advocacy for Plan Canada. “They wander into the philosophies, beliefs and artistic expressions of different peoples across the continent like no other animal.”
“When I was growing up in Kenya, before I started going to school, I used to help my grandfather take care of the goats,” Kahihu said. “Tending to goats was very frustrating... If you are distracted for even a minute, you will find the goats have taken off and are feeding on a neighbour’s crops.”
Like many of his peers, Kahihu’s grandfather valued cows and looked down on goats as not worth bragging about. “But even he would us not to laugh at a man so poor that all he owned was a goat. If the gods will it, he would tell us, the poor man’s goat will one day become a cow,” Kahihu said.
The gift of a goat to a family through Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope program brings the hope of economic independence, especially for women and children. ‘Most ethnic communities in Africa are traditionally patriarchal with assets such as cattle and land owned and controlled by the male head of the household. But many of these communities have long allowed women and children to own goats,” said Kahihu.
“In Plan’s work with communities today, we encourage women to leverage the opportunity in this tradition by helping them to convert the gift of a single goat into a small herd or a milk-selling business, thus boosting their income. The women will use the money to provide for their children’s health and education which is a pretty good result from a pretty thoughtful birthday gift to a member of your family.”

Buy a goat through Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope

Caution Goats on Trail

A warning to those hikers who find wild goats irresistibly cute on rocky mountain trails.  Those cute, shaggy mountain goats are no stuffed animals to play with, warns the Washington Trails Association. There have been plenty of mountain goat sightings on alpine trails throughout North Central Washington this year. They’re great to see, but the WTA advises hikers to keep their distance and give the animals wide berth on trails, especially nanny goats protective of their young. While mostly friendly and inquisitive, there have been several aggressive goat encounters with hikers this year, forcing the closure of some popular trails in the Olympic National Forest.

Goats are frequently seen in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, along Nason Ridge and around North Cascades National Park.

If a goat is persistently curious or begins to act aggressively, hikers should use noise — screaming or blowing a whistle is good — and flap clothing to get the goat to go its own way.
“If a goat wants the trail, give the goat the trail,” said Nancy Jones, spokeswoman for the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forest’s Cle Elum Ranger District. Hikers should stay at least 50 yards away from mountain goats at all times, she said.

Kenya's Answer To Barbecue Is Part Celebration, Part Test Of Manhood : The Salt : NPR

 

Kenya's Answer To Barbecue Is Part Celebration, Part Test Of Manhood

03:26 pm

August 21, 2012

 

by April Fulton

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( pic-John Burnett/NPR)

  Kenyan cook Mwangi grills up nyama choma, which usually involves nearly all the parts of a goat, at the popular Sagret Hotel in Nairobi.

In Nairobi, Kenya, when friends want to celebrate a birthday, the end of bachelorhood or a graduation, they often go out for goat. This communal and culinary tradition in Kenya is called nyama choma — literally, roasted meat. While it's usually goat, some places offer beef, chicken and lamb. If you know where to look, you can even get illegal zebra and and wildebeest meat.

In between assignments covering failed states and marauding rebels, our East Africa Correspondent John Burnett volunteered to investigate nyama choma (which we place in the "tough assignment but somebody's got to do it" category). Burnett hails from Austin, Texas, or, as he calls it, "the epicenter of the smoking arts." Now nyama choma is not technically barbecue because it's not slow-smoked, but it is grilled, so he says, "close enough."

On a recent lazy Saturday afternoon in Nairobi, Burnett is invited to join three old college chums at the Sagret Hotel's popular nyama choma place. When they arrive, clusters of friends and families are devouring roast goat at tables all around, and drinking Tusker beer — East Africa's version of a Bud — with gusto.
  The friends choose their fresh kid goat cuts from a refrigerated glass case — hind legs, ribs, and glistening plates of offal. And then "a sweating cook named Mwangi bastes our order of blood sausage and intestines in a tray of salt water, then throws it on the grill over glowing coals," Burnett reports.

When the cook brings over the charred hors d'oeuvres, Eric Mungai, a computer services entrepreneur, explains the mystique:
"So anytime there's nyama choma everyone's happy, I guess it's like barbecue [but] you don't barbecue for yourself, you call some friends, family over. It's not something you do on your own. It's considered to be a communal thing," he says.

Nyama choma is also ritual. When a man from the Kikuyu tribe marries, he must use a knife — often dull — to sever the roasted goat shoulder joint cleanly, while everyone watches. That's why Mburu Karanja, a beer marketer at a nearby table, is here. He's about to be married, and he needs to practice his knife skills.

"What if you don't do it in one cut?" asks Burnett.


"It's unthinkable. The wedding can be called off. It's actually a test of your manhood," Karanja replies.

Socializing and meat eating go hand in hand in Kenya. Nyama choma dens are packed on Saturday afternoons. Some men eat so much nyama choma that they're developing painful gout, Burnett reports. But they see it as a badge of honor.

"Now that we're living in modern times, people want to have meat as much as they can. It's something very desirable, but its not that affordable. It is suitably called 'the rich man's disease' [so] it's not that common," says Kamau Gachigi, an engineering professor who was sitting at Burnett's table.

Eventually, the roasted goat legs arrive, and the grillman slices them up quickly and cleanly — skills that would impress any bride's family.

The eaters roll up balls of ugali, a polenta-like corn mush, and press it next to the nyama choma. Then they dip it in salt and dunk it in a spicy, tomato relish called kachumbari, Burnett says.

"The succulent meat is as good as the best Mexican cabrito I've ever tasted," Burnett says. "Maybe better."

He was not as thrilled with the blood sausage and guts. "I really wanted to spit the grilled intestines out on the floor," he tells The Salt, "but I didn't want to offend my hosts."

Back at the Sagret Hotel, the schoolmates and their new friend from Texas left the meal and "slouched off into the balmy African afternoon feeling stuffed, satisfied, and connected ... in a way that only a fantastic feast can bring about," Burnett says.

Kenya's Answer To Barbecue Is Part Celebration, Part Test Of Manhood : The Salt : NPR

 LINK:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/08/21/159384328/kenyas-answer-to-barbecue-is-part-celebration-part-test-of-manhood

Saudi- Goat price hikes as demand for meat ups on Eid - middle east north africa financial network - MENAFN

 

(MENAFN - Arab News) Prices of goat and sheep reached a record high on Saturday, on the eve of Eid Al-Fitr in Saudi markets, according to a report carried by Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News.

In the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, prices were normal but as Eid approached, livestock prices witnessed a big hike.

For merchants there are a number of reasons to hike prices. Some of them said the increase in prices of barley and other fodders, has reflected on the price hike.

Expenses of maintaining farms have been going up on a daily basis, while rearing and taking care of livestock till the season is a big task," the newspaper quoted an investor as saying. Whatever may be the reason for the price hike, it falls heavily on the shoulder of consumers.

According to Rajih Al-Wadaani, an investor, rising prices of goat during Eid is quite normal. "At times of festivals, about 10 percent hike is very natural due to high demand. Prices of all commodities, including barley and other fodder products, have gone up. Other expenses such as the wage of shepherds have also increased," he added.

Reports indicate that prices of goat and sheep have not been stable at any time of the year in the market as they always fluctuate. Prices have doubled during the last three years.

Salim Al-Rasheedi, a merchant in the Riyadh market, said the demand for domestic goats is increasing on a daily basis. "This is the main reason for the price hike," he said. He added that most customers like domestic goats more than imported ones.

Among the domestic goats, Nuaimi and Najdi are the most famous having a great demand. Prices of Najdi have reached more than SR 1,800 per animal while Nuaimi is sold for prices ranging between SR 1,550 and SR 1,700.
At the same time, prices of imported goat, like Sawakin reached up to SR 1,000. Barbari, which is the cheapest, is sold for SR 600. "We have to increase the production of domestic goats and sheep. This is the only way to decrease prices," Al-Rasheedi said.

The government is trying to bring down goat prices by increasing the quantity of imported goats. However, prices are still very high.

Muhamed Al-Dossari, another merchant, defended the price hike saying it was essential to offset growing expenses. "Customers do not know about the increase in prices of essential commodities that are required for goat farms. They think merchants are increasing prices without any reason to make money. It is not true," he added.










Saudi- Goat price hikes as demand for meat ups on Eid - middle east north africa financial network - MENAFN

LINK  http://www.menafn.com/menafn/1093548455/Saudi-Goat-price-hikes-as-demand-for-meat-ups-on-Eid

'Dogshaming' sweeps the internet... PEOPLE ARE FUNNY!!!

 

 




 


 



Monkeys and Dogs

Thankfulness and Compassion

"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time,
and always start with the person nearest you."
- Mother Teresa



This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
- Dalai Lama



“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” -Epictetus

 

Begonia Cultivar