A study was carried out to identify farmers' goat breeding objectives as a preparatory step towards the setting up of community based goat breeding programme in Mzimba and Nsanje Districts of Malawi. Participatory workshops were held with farmers to get a general idea of their goat breeding objectives. Farmers with more than 7 does were asked to select, with reasons, the best, average and worst does from their flocks. Productive, reproductive and morphometric data for the ranked does were recorded. There was some agreement between the farmers' ranking and the trait measurements taken on the goats that were ranked, suggesting that proper measurement of those traits will assist in meeting the farmer's objectives. The main breeding objective was to increase meat production, but the two sites had different pathways towards this objective. Farmers in Mzimba were more interested in higher growth rates and higher mature weights, while farmers in Nsanje were more interested in improving survival traits, which are more directly related to off-take rates. It is suggested that different selection strategies should be used for each of the sites in order to realise genetic gain that meets the needs of the farmers.