Livestock

The poultry value chain in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries involves both large-scale integrated enterprises and small-scale production systems. The former have benefited from capital investments, access to information and scientific research, whereas the latter remain isolated despite their significance. Family poultry comprises approximately 80% of the world's total poultry stock and plays a key role in many households in ACP countries for food and nutrition security, livelihoods and conservation of indigenous breeds. An analysis of the family poultry value chain, including its poor productivity and low financial and technical inputs, shows that it contrasts markedly with conditions in large-scale commercial poultry enterprises. Governments and researchers would be well advised to thoroughly review the family poultry value chains to identify priorities for science and innovation that can contribute to improved efficiency for the provision of eggs, live birds, fresh-chilled, frozen and other value-added poultry products. This summary is provided by CABI and CTA, July 2012.
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By P.H. Bayerni, Institute of Agricultural Research for Development, CameroonPopulation growth, urbanization, and income growth in developing countries are fuelling a global increase in demand for food of animal origin. The resulting demand comes from changes in diets of billions of people and provides income growth opportunities for many of the rural poor. Over the last 20 years, meat consumption in developing countries has increased three times as fast as in developed countries. In order to benefit from the demand, farmers in developing countries should adapt to the new environment, which demands dissemination of technologies and changes of production systems to eliminate low productivity. This article by P. H. Bayemi provides a detailed overview of artificial insemination practices in Cameroon. 21/09/2012
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The December 2010 special issue of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology focuses on the fodder quality of crop residues and how this can be improved through the close collaboration of crop and livestock scientists in multi-dimensional crop improvement programmes. ‘Food-Feed Crops Research: A Synthesis’ synthesizes the salient findings of the 16 papers included in the special issue on food-feed crops. While summarizing the approaches and outcomes of the research papers, the synthesis also discusses related issues, which are of importance in delineating the future research agenda on this topic. Cereal crop residues (CCRs) constitute the single most important fodder resource but the inherent low nutritive value of most CCRs is a handicap in the effective utilization of this feed resource. The synthesis paper, besides providing an update on the progress in food-feed crop research, suggests future approaches to exploit the variability in fodder quality traits for improving livestock productivity. It also highlights the need for the plant and animal scientists to work in tandem to achieve this goal. Furthermore, it stresses the need for greater integration, focus, coordination of efforts to improve the utilization of food– feed crops. The fundamental issues explored in this special issue, are: (1) availability of livestock nutritionally-significant cultivar-dependent variation in crop residue fodder quantity and quality; (2) relationships between crop residue fodder traits and primary food traits and possible trade-offs between the traits; (3) technologies for quick and inexpensive phenotyping of large sets of samples for simple fodder quality that are well correlated with actual livestock productivity; (4) breeding techniques for further genetic enhancement towards food-feed traits; and (5) upgrading crop residue fodder in value chains through densification and fortification. See the ILRI News release about the special issue.(Source: A.K. Pattanaik, K. Sharma, S. Anandan, M. Blümmel; in Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology (Journal), Special issue on fodder quality of crop residues , December 2010) 14/02/2011
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By C. Seré, A. Ayantunde, A. Duncan, A. Freeman, M. Herrero, S. Tarawali and I. Wright, International Livestock Research Institute, June 2008Rangelands are the largest land use system on earth. They constitute some 35 million km2 of the earth’s surface, with the majority in developing countries and some 65% (almost 22 million km2) of this in tropical Africa. Over 180 million people in the developing world depend for their livelihoods on these systems, with just over half of them living on less than $2 per day and a quarter on less than $1 per day (Thornton et al., 2002). Rangelands predominate in dryland areas where they may be defined as regions where there are less than 20 persons/km2 and where the length of the growing period (LGP) is less than 60 days/annum and does not permit significant crop growth. Figure 1 shows the location of the arid and semi-arid rangeland systems in tropical and subtropical regions of the World. 29/07/2008
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‘The role of livestock in developing communities: Enhancing multifunctionality’ was launched on 9 November 2010 at the University of the Free State, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The book was edited by Frans Swanepoel, Aldo Stroebel and Siboniso Moyo, co-published by the University of the Free State South Africa, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The book provides critical information and knowledge on the importance of livestock in the global effort to alleviate poverty and promote human health. It describes and evaluates case studies, examines theoretical frameworks, and discusses key global policy development issues, challenges and constraints related to smallholder livestock production systems around the globe. It describes successful livestock development strategies, including ways to promote gender equality and to empower women through livestock development and ways to develop small-scale livestock enterprises without harming the environment. The book is written for academic professionals, industry experts, government officials and other scholars interested in the facts and issues concerning the contribution of livestock to the social and economic progress of developing countries.(Source: Frans Swanepoel, Aldo Stroebel and Siboniso Moyo. Co-published by the University of the Free State South Africa, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 9 November 2010.) 14/02/2011
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Farmers are always looking for ways to improve their crop and livestock production systems. Recently, an opportunity for improving feed supply for pigs was identified by farmers in northern Laos. The legume Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184 (Stylo) had been introduced as a feed for ruminants but farmers also evaluated its use as a feed for pigs. They found that stylo was liked by pigs. They used it to replace naturally-occurring green feeds which took a long time to collect from fallow fields and forest margins. Women had been spending, on average, 3 hours per day collecting and cooking feed for pigs. With stylo, this time was reduced to 90 minutes per day. As farmers started to feed more stylo, they found that their pigs grew much better, increasing the average daily weight gain from approximately 100 to 200g.This better growth halved the time needed to grow pigs to marketable weight. These benefits prompted other farmers in surrounding villages to also grow and use stylo for their pigs. Creating an environment in which farmers were able to freely evaluate and adapt forage technologies to their own situation was a critical element in the evolution of this innovation. Participatory approaches were employed to ensure that farmers were involved actively in every stage of technology development. This generated unexpected outcomes and opened new research opportunities.(Source: P. Phengsavanh and W. Stür, for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR and CIAT.; Farmer-led research in village pig production in Lao PDR, P Phengsavanh [Livestock Research Center (LRC), National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute(NAFRI), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Vientiane, Lao PDR] and W. Stür [International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), P.O. Box 783, Vientiane, Lao PDR] ) 17/02/2011
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The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has updated its catalogue of high-quality photofilms that tell livestock-for-development stories from the field. The new catalogue lists 14 films produced by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), starting in 2010, to capture event highlights and tell stories of people who depend on livestock for their livelihoods, food, income, and cropping. The collection includes, among other fascinating short documentaries, a film on the experiences of a women’s group in Kenya and stories of successful small-scale food production initiatives. (ILRI Clippings; 21/5/2012) 04/06/2012
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