Category: Livestock

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Niche products from Bengali cows highlighted

There’s a wonderful message just in from Dr Sandip Banerjee to the DAD-Net discussion list on domestic animal diversity. After sounding the alarm for the Rumpless Fowl and various local goat breeds of Bengal, which he says require urgent conservation efforts, he has this to say about what’s happening with the cattle ((I’ve added the links.)):

…I was overwhelmed when I saw a herd of indigenous cattle being maintained at the International Society of Krishna Consiousness (ISKON) farm at Mayapur. The herd they maintain comprises of Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal breeds. The animals are very well maintained and it was really pleasing to see the magnificent animals and their calves. They are also marketing clarified butter (ghee) prepared from the cream obtained from the native Indian cattle, Go Ark (a traditional Ayurvedic medicine developed from the urine and medicinal herbs which has been patented Number US patent-6410059, dt 25/06/02), the other products are Pachamrit (for gastric troubles) and Ghanabati (tablets of dried cow urine). These product are developed according to the traditional Ayurvedic principles and are marketed through their outlets.

I had no idea that it was possible to obtain quite this range of products from cattle. This is how Dr Banerjee signs off:

If such good activities are carried out by societies throughout India then why are the Government Farms (which are well established and staffed) fail to deliver, I can only conclude it by saying that there is lack of serious willingness to do so at all levels.

Sounds like a gauntlet being thrown down.

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Nibbles: WFP and Millennium Villages, Agroecotourism squared, Mango, Wild pollinators, CGIAR change process, Grape breeding, Landraces and climate change, Mau Forest, Eels

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Nibbles: Gary Nabhan, Poppies, Gates and Worldwatch, Vavilov update, Aquaponics

  • “His piped cowboy shirt and vest made my westy heart ache with thoughts of home, and the intensity of his commitment to bringing variety back to our land and our table was inspiring…” I bet it was.
  • “The briefing note apparently anticipates a public-relations battle over planting poppies on the Prairies.” I bet it does.
  • “You ask if the money might have been better spent supporting the dissemination of this proven knowledge within Africa.” I bet they did.
  • Cassava processing in Africa. Lots of people betting on this.
  • Vavilov finds enormous onions in Algeria. Who wants to bet they’re still there?
  • Aquaponics catching on in Hawaii? You bet.
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Mapping livelihoods diversity in East Africa

ResearchBlogging.orgAs the world discusses desertification and worries about the drought in East Africa, it’s as well to remember that it is livestock keepers that bear the brunt of these problems. A recent paper in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment helps to quantify the size of the challenge. ((Cecchi, G., Wint, W., Shaw, A., Marletta, A., Mattioli, R., & Robinson, T. (2009). Geographic distribution and environmental characterization of livestock production systems in Eastern Africa. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2009.08.011.))

It uses environmental and livelihoods data to map the geographic distribution of different livestock-keeping strategies in East Africa. The authors — a team lead by FAO — conclude that:

…nearly 40% of all livestock in the IGAD region are kept in mixed farming areas, where they contribute to rural livelihoods in diverse ways, not least by enhancing crop production through manure and draught power and by providing additional indirect inputs to livelihoods that are seldom properly accounted for. Moreover, an estimated 50 million rural people in Eastern Africa — over a third of the rural population — live in areas where livestock predominate over crops as a source of income. Investment statistics would suggest that this fact often fails to be appreciated fully by governments, donors and policy makers.

The map itself will hopefully prove useful in guiding policy in the future, ((Though I am bound to say I wont be holding my breath on that one.)) but I want to concentrate here on some of the analysis that having all these data in a GIS allowed. In particular, look at graphs of the prevalence of different livelihoods strategies plotted against human population density, and then length of growing period. ((A pastoral production system is where total household income from livestock (L) is 4 or more times greater than total household income from crops (C). An agro-pastoral system has a L/C ratio of 1-4. And in a mixed farming production system the income from crops exceeds that from livestock (L/C<1).)) fig1

fig2

It looks like areas with a human population density of 20-30 people per square kilometer and a growing season of about 150 days are the most diverse in terms of production systems. It would be interesting to know whether they are also most diverse at the species and genetic levels, for either crops or livestock. I suspect the necessary data weren’t collected in the livelihoods surveys that formed the basis of this study. Will no enterprising student go in and test the hypothesis?