West African Dwarf Goat

West African Dwarf Goat is a small goat breed native to the humid forest and coastal zones of West and Central Africa, widely kept by smallholder farmers across countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and neighboring states. It is notably trypanotolerant, carrying natural resistance to trypanosomiasis, the parasitic disease spread by the tsetse fly that limits livestock keeping across much of tropical Africa, a trait shared with breeds such as the N'Dama cattle of the same region. Its small size and tolerance of humid, disease-prone conditions where larger goat and other livestock breeds struggle make it an important genetic resource for smallholder agriculture across its range, valued for meat production on limited land and minimal veterinary input. The breed is also the likely ancestral stock behind several dwarf goat breeds developed elsewhere, including the Pygmy Goat established from West African stock exported to zoos and breeders outside Africa.