The Kenyan government has announced a programme to preserve local African breeds of cattle.

There is a growing trend in the developing world to rely on a few, select, internationally successful breeds—high-yield Holstein-Friesian dairy cows are an obvious example.

But this practice is in danger of causing indigenous breeds to die out.

The director general of the International Livestock Research Institute, Carlos Seré, said in a recent report: "Valuable breeds are disappearing at an alarming rate. In many cases, we will not even know the true value of an existing breed until it's already gone. We need to act now to conserve what's left by putting them in gene banks."

Uganda's Ankole breed, famous for its large and attractive horns, is one that his organisation believes could be in danger of extinction, perhaps in as little as 20 years.

Kenya's directory of veterinary services, Dr Joseph Musaa, said his government would work to set up a gene bank of the kind Mr Seré described.