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The chattiness of the livestock conservation community

A regular reader 1 has just forwarded to me an email posted by Dr Abdul Raziq, camel scientist and President of SAVES, 2 on DAD-Net, the discussion forum of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, which is hosted by FAO. I quote it in full below because I can’t find an online archive of DAD-Net messages, although occasionally some get cross-posted to another livestock mailing list, that of the Endogenous Livestock Development Network.

Certainly in this respect the livestock conservation community — which after all only recently came up with its Global Plan of Action, a decade after that for plant genetic resources — seems to be better developed than that for crops. I can’t think of an online discussion forum where an agronomist or extension worker or botanist could post information about endangered crop (and wild relative) diversity. 3 Apart from right here, that is! But please tell me I’m wrong. And DAD-IS includes an early warning tool for genetic erosion. Incidentally, in researching this, I came across a little-known corner of the FAO website with some cool livestock-related maps.

Raigi camel, a very distinctive breed from northern Balochistan, Pakistan, which is characterized by considerable milk production potential (7-10 l/day) and consumes saltbushes and brackish water. The milk is believed to have high total solids and used mainly for Kurth making locally. The animal is small in body size and having big belly and rib cage. The animal has mean±SE body dimension as wither height (164.23±0.45 cm), rump length (139.27±0.26), sternal pad distance from the ground (89.70±0.71 cm), canon bone circumference (19.87±0.14 cm), breast width (42.98±0.15 cm) and estimated live weight (373.98±3.51 kg). The camel wool has long staple length with fine fiber, mostly used locally for rugs fabrication. Although the Raigi camel has long been recognized as a distinct population by local camel breeders, scientists were previously not aware of the existence of this breed.

Information about the distribution area, estimated population size, and physical characteristics of the Raigi camel is provided and the prevailing management and production system is described. It is concluded that the Raigi camel represents a valuable genetic resource and that steps are necessary to ensure its survival as a separate gene pool. The Raigi camel is one of the important livestock species raised in the historic Khurasan. The historic Pashtoon Khurasan, divided by Durand Line (drawn in 1892) is well known for its animal agriculture. The Khurasan was then divided in Kakar (Pakistan) and Ghilzai (Afghanistan) Khurasan. Khurasan is the home of famous Pashtoon nomadic and transhumant tribes. The Raigi camel is well adapted to the climatic extremes and is well appreciated for its’ significance in the pastoral economy. In Khurasan region camel is used on religious rituals like Eid ul Azha and Sadaqa. The meat of camel is traditionally dried (Landi) and use during the winter. In recent years the importance of camel increased many folds due to various factors like drought, high male calf prices, demand in the neighboring countries, and awareness about the camel products. The high slaughter rate, the political instability, war like condition and the human migration and influx in some area are the serious threat to the habitat of Raigi breed. Deforestation of the Tamarisk tree is almost completed and now the bushes are being de-rooted which are used for the burning purpose.

The local community and the markets of the cities like Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar and other cities of Afghanistan are the main markets foe the meat of this breed. Some animals reach to the meat market of Zhob in Pakistan. The herders mainly use camel meat locally, like use for Lanthie in winter, slaughter animal on special occasions like Eid and sadaqa. The milk of the camel is saltiest in general but this phenomenon is specific for Raigi, which entirely graize on haloxylon and artimisia. The surplus milk is used especially used for Shlombey and Kurth. Their populations of the Raigi herders are estimated to number about 300-500 households, but the exact figures are hard to find because of the remote, inaccessible nature of the area and politically disturbed nature of the area. The breed is cross boundary in nature and need to be study from the both sides. There is utmost need of the time to characterize and document this precious breed and steps taken for its conservation with the help of the camel keepers in its environment (in situ).

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Marco Polo Sheep on the brink

A rare sheep found in Central Asia is under threat from over-hunting.

Rick Herscher, owner and operator of Alaska Hunting Safaris in Anchorage, AK, describes hunting for the Marco Polo sheep as an adventure and joyful experience. The company runs hunts in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan for a fee of US$35,000 and Herscher said in a telephone conversation that authorities in Central Asian states can be notoriously corrupt where the issuing of a license for hunting can be a gold mine.

Ovis ammon polii numbers about 10,000 individuals and is apparently much prized by European and American trophy hunters. It is found in the Khunjerab National Park. It was described by Marco Polo, after whom it is named, and is a subspecies of the argali. It’s separate from the main line domesticated sheep evolution, but still.

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The Bioscience Behind Secure Harvests ignores conservation

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) invests £78m (€80m) in plant and crop research at universities and institutes across the UK, sometimes in the form of international partnerships. They have a pamphlet out called The Bioscience Behind Secure Harvests, highlighting “key BBSRC-supported research into achieving global food security.” There’s a lot on breeding, in particular as a way of adapting to climate change, and a section on “Harnessing natural diversity.” 4 There are even a couple of — albeit brief — references to the use of wild relatives in wheat breeding. But nothing at all on the conservation side of things. I guess the BBSRC figures that funding the long-term availability of the raw materials of all this breeding it is supporting is someone else’s problem.

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This is not a pistic

Luigi’s Nibble this morning prompted me to look again for one of the seminal papers in the Italian use of wild agrobiodiversity: Pistic, traditional food from Western Friuli, N.E. Italy. 5 The abstract says:

Western Friuli, Italy, there is a small area near the town of Pordenone where an ancient rite of spring is still carried out. This is the preparation of a special dish, known as “pistic,” a collection of 56 wild herbaceous meadow and wood plants which are boiled and then sautéed together. This practice is still alive in a few areas of Friuli today and possibly goes back to pre-Roman Celtic cultures in this part of Friuli. The number of herbaceous plants used in this dish is extraordinarily high (56), especially when compared to the low number normally used in other conventional dishes. “Pistic” is therefore important, not only because it represents a quantitatively high use of wild herbs in the diet of the rural population, but also because it reflects environmental awareness, in that the archaic method of naming, identifying and using these plants still exists today. Similar rural practices include the use of “pot herbs” in Great Britain and in France the cooking of “mesclun.”

So many questions. This was more than 10 years ago; are the people of western Friuli still making pistic? What if you can only find 55 of the species? How do people remember the names of the plants? Are there any other dishes that use more species? What would it matter if some of the species could no longer be found in the wild?

Of course, the Italians, let alone the Friulians, are not alone in their use of wild plants, especially in spring. But they do seem to take wild plants more seriously than anyone else in the Mediterranean.