Creole goats in Latin America and the Caribbean: a priceless resource to ensure the well-being of rural communities

ABSTRACT

Creole breeds are an invaluable genetic reservoir due to their adaptation to the environments where they are exploited. In particular, Creole goats in Latin America and the Caribbean play a preponderant role in the development and economic growth of rural communities. They represent a strategic option for these communities to migrate from poverty to prosperity, taking advantage of the adaptability and rusticity of these goats, given that they survive, reproduce, and produce acceptable levels of meat and milk in adverse conditions and environments. For this reason, they are a key species for generating foods of high biological and nutritional value, in the face of changing environmental and climatic conditions. Therefore, public policies should consider local or Creole goats as a priority species in productive support programmes, as well as in research programmes seeking to improve productivity in a sustainable manner in all environments where they are raised.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptation
• adverse environments
• genetic resources
• ruminants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Glafiro Torres-Hernández

Glafiro Torres-Hernández was born in Durango, México, October 19, 1943. He obtained a Bachelor Degree at Escuela Nacional de Agricultura, Chapingo, México in 1969. After graduation, he worked for three years as a Livestock Extensionist for a Credit Bank in nortnern México and later he decided to pursue graduate work. To accomplish this, he completed a M.S. degree in 1974 in Animal Breeding & Genetics at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA. After working for two years at Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, México, he returned to USA, where he obtained a Ph.D. degree in 1979 at Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA, also in Animal Breeding & Genetics. After that, he has been working at Colegio de Postgraduados as a Professor in the Programa de Ganadería, doing research mainly in Genetic Improvement of sheep and goats, where he has graduated 18 B.S. students, 26 M.S. students, and 44 Ph.D. students. At this time, he is still active in his duties at Colegio de Postgraduados.

Jorge Alonso Maldonado-Jáquez

Jorge Alonso Maldonado-Jáquez was born in Madera, Chihuahua, México. He obtained a Bachelor degree in animal science at Unidad Regional Universitaria de Zonas Áridas-Universidad Autonoma Chapingo. He completed a M. S degree at Colegio de Postgraduados-Campus Montecillo in 2016. Actually he is a Ph.D student in Colegio de Postgraduados. He is senior researcher in milk and meat production program mainly in goats and sheeps, genetic resources, production systems and grazing in Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias- Campo Experimental La Laguna, Matamoros, Coahuila, México.

Lorenzo Danilo Granados-Rivera

Lorenzo Danilo Granados Rivera he obtained a Bachelor degree in animal science at Universidad Autonoma Chapingo. He completed a M. S and Ph.D degree at Colegio de Postgraduados-Campus Montecillo. Actually he works as a senior researcher in meat and milk production in ruminants in Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias- Campo Experimental General Terán, Nuevo León, México.

Maria Wurzinger

Maria Wurzinger holds a doctoral degree from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, where she is a senior scientist at the Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems. Her work is dedicated to animal breeding in the tropics, including the characterisation of production systems, the documentation of indigenous knowledge, and the development of community-based breeding strategies. She works on agricultural innovation systems and the identification of promising intervention strategies in low-input systems. She is interested to gain a better understanding about farmers' norms and beliefs and how they can influence the uptake of new breeding strategies.

Alvar Alonso Cruz-Tamayo

Alvar Alonso Cruz-Tamayo he obtained a bachelor degree like Agricultural Biologist Chemist at Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan. He completed a M. S. in Animal Science from Instituto Tecnologico Nacional de México and complete his Ph.D degree was obtained in in Genetic Resources and Productivity from Colegio de postgraduados. Actually he works as a Senior Research Professor, in Escuela de Ciencias Agropecuarias in Universidad Autónoma de Campeche.