The past and present of and potential for the domestic (water) buffalo in Africa

Egypt is the only country in Africa where domestic buffalo have a long-term presence and constitute an important part of the array of domestic animal resources. Attempts to introduce buffalo to other African countries have been made since at least the 1920s. Nine such attempted introductions are documented in this paper, although for most cases, there is very limited information. Buffalo have disappeared without trace in some countries and were slaughtered in at least two because of lack of adaptation or susceptibility to disease. In addition to Egypt, only Tanzania and Mozambique are known to have buffalo in 2012. There are suitable ecological niches for buffalo in many African countries. Failure to provide sufficient financial resources by governments, initially small numbers of animals and probable lack of interest by the private sector are among the reasons for the failure of buffalo to become a contributor to African livestock production. Policy makers and development agencies should very carefully consider the overall benefits against the overall costs of attempted introductions of buffalo (and of other exotic livestock species) in to African countries.