PRESS ROOM

EMBARGOED UNTIL 10.00 HOURS GMT ON 3 SEPTEMBER 2007

For further information, contact:

Grace Ndungu: +254 722 890 551 or g.ndungu@cgiar.org

Catherine Mgendi: +254 726 243 046 or c.mgendi@cgiar.org

Jeff Haskins: +254 729 871 422 or jhaskins@burnesscommunications.com

Interlaken Press Release and ILRI Background Materials

· Press Release: English: PDF (30KB) | HTML

Spanish: PDF (32KB) | HTML

German: PDF (32KB) | HTML

French: PDF (32KB) | HTML

· Scientific paper: Dynamics of Livestock Production Systems, Drivers of Change and prospects for Animal genetic Resources (AnGR): PDF (144 KB)

· Backgrounder: North-to-South Livestock Gene Flows Crowd out Local Breeds

PDF (14 KB) | HTML

· Backgrounder: What makes Livestock Conservation so Different from Plant Conservation?

PDF (17KB) | HTML

Background Materials

· Bio for Dr. Carlos Sere PDF (9 KB) | HTML

Slideshow

· Global: Hardy indigenous livestock breeds 13 Sept 2007 Watch the slideshow.

Films

· 3-minute film on conserving livestock for people
Livestock breeds that have helped people survive countless challenges throughout history are now dying out at an extraordinary rate. Globally, governments are discussing this problem, meanwhile this film sets out 4 approaches that can help now. Download the film.

· 30-second film highlight on Sheko cattle
Sheko cattle come from Southern Ethiopia and there are only 2500 left in the world. They are adapted to withstand trypanosomosis, a disease that kills cattle and people. Download the film.

· 30-second film highlight on Ankole cattle
Ankole cattle come from five East Africa countries. These hardy, gentle, animals are threatened by expanding human populations and market demands. At current rates they will disappear in 50 years. Download the film.

· 30-second film highlight on Red Maasai sheep
Red Maasai sheep come from East Africa and do not get sick when infected by worms. Download the film.

Photos

SHEKO

Only some 2,400 Sheko cattle remain alive. These relatively small animals, which are related to West Africa’s ancient N’Dama cattle, are found only in the remote corner of southwestern Ethiopia, near the Sudanese border, where the Sheko people bred them for millennia for their natural resistance to disease, particularly tsetse-transmitted trypanosomosis. The Sheko are believed to be the last remnants of Africa’s original humpless shorthorn cattle, which were probably first domesticated in this region of eastern Africa.

ANKOLE

There are about 3.2 million Ankole cattle in five countries of East and Central Africa. The Ankole are drought-resistant and beloved by their keepers also for their uncommon gentleness, beauty, rich milk and tasty meat (believed also to be low in

cholesterol). Rapidly expanding human populations, infrastructures and markets, however, are forcing more and more farmers to replace their indigenous African Ankole cattle with exotic breeds such as the black-and-white Holstein-Friesians dairy cows, which produce much more milk. At their current rates of decline, these hardy, graceful animals will disappear within the next 50 years.

RED FULANI

This large bony and typically red-coated animal has extremely long lyre-shaped horns. It is kept by pastoral Fulani people, who herd the animal across open semi-arid rangelands of the Sahel that criss-cross five countries of West and Central Africa. This is a dual-purpose milk and meat animal prized for its ability to cope with heat, ticks, insect bites and great water and feed scarcity.

KURI

These hamitic longhorn humpless cattle inhabit the hot, humid shores and archipelagos of the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. They are large-bodied, typically white, and carry highly distinctive bulbous horns. The breed is adapted to the hot and humid climate and can survive long droughts. They are managed under traditional systems, feeding on grass on the small islands of Lake Chad. They are excellent swimmers and follow their herdsmen through the water as they travel from an island to another; their bulbous horns are considered useful in floating. The Kuri are highly fertile animals and excellent milk and meat producers. ILRI estimates the remaining population of Kuri, now threatened with extinction, to number only some 10,000 head.

IMPROVED BORAN

The semi-nomadic Borana tribe in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya herd the Boran, a medium- to large-sized and long-legged zebu animal that has considerable potential as a meat breed. On acquiring them early in this century, Kenyan ranchers judiciously crossed the original Ethiopian Boran with European breeds. This scheme to maximize the potential of an indigenous breed rather than attempt to replace it with exotic types has been highly successful. Today, the Improved Boran is one of Africa’s top beef breeds. Docile and well-adapted to hot, dry ranching conditions and to sparse pasture, these valuable animals have been exported from Africa to other continents, such as Australia, and from there to the USA.

RED MAASAI SHEEP

Red Maasai ‘hair’ sheep (they do not produce wool) have traditionally been kept by the pastoralist societies of East Africa. Highly resistant to gastrointestinal parasite infections and other diseases, they thrive in harsh environments ranging from drought-prone savannas to humid zones. These traits make the genes these sheep carry invaluable to the world. Research by ILRI and partners has confirmed the existence of genetic resistance to helminth parasites in the Red Maasai sheep and drawn attention to the importance of this sheep resource. But despite a slackening global demand for wool that is promoting the spread of hair sheep elsewhere, the introduction of Dorper sheep from South Africa has caused, in little more than 15 years, pure-bred Red Maasai to almost completely disappear.

N'DAMA CATTLE OF WEST AFRICA

The short, thick-set and muscular humpless N'Dama, thought to have been developed in the highlands of Guinea, is kept by farmers in free-range village production systems across 20 countries of West and Central Africa. Over some 7,000 years, these beef cattle developed resistance to a deadly disease transmitted by the tsetse fly. This disease kills both cattle (trypanosomosis) and people (sleeping sickness) and is said to be largely responsible for holding back development across vast areas of Africa’s prime humid and sub-humid regions. The N’Dama and a few other so-called trypanotolerant African livestock breeds (including Ethiopia’s Sheko cattle) are well known for their ability to survive and produce milk, meat and other products in tsetse-infested areas, where susceptible zebu and European breeds cannot.

LOCAL YELLOW CATTLE BREED OF VIETNAM, USED TO PLOUGH AND PULL CARTS IN THE FRONTIER TERRITORY OF NORTHERN VIETNAM

BOY RIDING SMALL INDIGENOUS MOUNTAIN BUFFALO OF NORTHERN VIETNAM

MONGOLIAN FARMER MILKING CROSSBRED NATIVE YELLOW CATTLE WITH EXOTIC SIMMENTAL

INDIGENOUS BAU CROSSBRED DUCKS ON THEIR WAY HOME IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

THE INDIGENOUS 'BLACK CHICKEN' OF VIETNAM, WHICH HAS BLACK LEGS AND MEAT

INDIGENOUS 'BLACK CHICKENS' BEING RAISED IN NORTHERN VIETNAM THESE CHICKENS WILL BE BRANDED FOR A NICHE MARKET

CHINA'S INDIGENOUS SMALL TAIL SHEEP BREED EATING THE LEAVES OF A POPLAR TREE

KASHMIR GOATS MIXED WITH SHEEP ON A FARM IN INNER MONGOLIA

A PIG WHICH IS A CROSS BETWEEN A PURE EXOTIC AND A LOCAL CHINESE BREED. SUCH CROSSBREEDS ARE EASIER TO MAINTAIN THAN PURE EXOTICS ON THE LOCAL FEED RESOURCES

LUNG PU INDIGENOUS BREED OF BLACK PIG IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

INDIGENOUS BREED OF PIG IN VIETNAM, LUNG PU.

WHITE CROSSBRED PIG RAISED ON FARM ONE HOUR DRIVE SOUTH OF BEIJING