Overview
Goats are an important source of income for smallholders in the Philippines and were shown to be sustaining significant losses from internal parasites. In collaboration with Philippine and international organisations, ACIAR funded a program which developed a management package which effectively controlled internal parasites and enhanced goat productivity. The study found, via an extensive survey of farmers and local extension groups, that there has been substantial adoption in the target regions. This is continuing to expand due to a strong commitment of further resources from local extension groups. The outcome has been significant impact with the estimated net present value of welfare gains of $66 million, a benefit to cost ratio of 10:1 and an internal rate of return of 25 per cent. At this stage there has not been transfer of the outcomes to other regions in the Philippines but given the success in the two regions of focused this is likely. If this happens the returns will be much higher. This IAS only looked at the Philippine component of a larger effort. The full project covered several countries in Southeast Asia, it is expected that similar results will be found in all countries.