Report of working group 3: Research priorities for WANA rangelands
Working group members
Chair
O. Gürsoy (Turkey)
Rapporteur
K. Jones (Jordan–UK)
Facilitator
H. Li Pun (ILRI)
Members
M. Abu-Zanat (Jordan)
S. H. Ahmed (Yemen)
F. Al-Keraby (Egypt)
O. Annamuhamedov (Turkmenistan)
U. Aripov (Uzbekistan)
M. Chenost (France)
J. Dodds (ICARDA)
G. Gintzburger (ICARDA)
E. Istanbulloglou (ICARDA)
M. Kineev (Kazakstan)
A. Matthess-Guerrero (GTZ–Morocco)
T. Nordblom (ICARDA)
E. F. Thomson (ICARDA)
Process
Following the election of the Chair and Rapporteur, the objectives of the group’s discussion were defined as being:
to identify major constraints to development related to livestock natural resource management and human needs in rangeland livestock systems
to identify researchable issues
to identify possible strategies for the development of research projects.
The group discussed and set priorities using four steps:
identification and scoring of constraint fields. Four constraint fields with scores of more than 20 points were reassessed and the various comments reclassified into technical or biological, socio-economic and methodological aspects
identification of potential solutions with particular emphasis on researchable issues
classification of the six most important issues, to assess the comparative advantages of national agricultural research systems (NARS) and international agricultural research centres (IARCs) to work on the issues
aggregation of priority research topics within constraints and identification of possibilities for partnerships for the development of research projects.
Identification of major constraints
The working group identified, in order of priority, four groups of constraints: feed resources, animal health, animal genetics, and participation of livestock owners.
Feed resources
Poor management and excessive stocking rates leading to overgrazing, coupled with water shortage, were identified as the main problems in range areas. There is a lack of information on the nutritive value of the feed resources. Livestock owners face problems with land tenure, lack of credit and the absence of appropriate extension services.
Animal health
There is a lack of monitoring of diseases and this problem is increased in some areas by cross-border movements of large numbers of animals. In some countries legislation relating to animal movements across borders and quarantine is not enforced. Livestock owners have poor access to veterinary and diagnostic services, both public and private, and to vaccines.
Animal genetics
There is poor characterisation of local breeds in production systems. Where selection has taken place in the region, it has tended to be inappropriate and has not taken sufficient account of the farmers’ breeding goals and the importance of disease resistance.
Participation of livestock owners
A wide range of factors was identified, which have hindered communication and interaction between the rangeland livestock owners and research workers and research institutions. These include the diverse interests of the livestock owners and their families and lack of representative livestock owners’ organisations. Problems on the research side arise from the lack of training of research workers in participatory techniques and the organisation of research centres along narrow disciplinary lines.
Research priorities
Consideration of the solutions and researchable issues for the above four areas and two further constraint areas, extension and marketing, led to defining the research priorities listed below. The group felt that work by NARS was needed on all topics. Where IARCs or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) can contribute to the objectives identified by the working groups, it has been indicated below.
Feed resources
Feed resources were considered to have by far the highest priority for rangeland and livestock systems:
assessment of current land tenure systems; possible options for improvement and the consequences of making changes in tenure (IARCs, FAO)
inventory, monitoring and evaluation of rangeland resources (IARCs)
evaluation of existing production systems
development of a strategy for rangeland rehabilitation
use of geographical information systems (GIS) as a standard instrument to integrate different dimensions.
Health
Research on health should include the following research priorities:
conduct of epidemiological surveys of the main diseases (IARCs)
development of models for the management of herd or flock health.
Genetics
Research on genetics should include the following research priorities:
breed characterisation and evaluation, including DNA mapping (IARCs, FAO)
nucleus breeding of local breeds for characteristics selected with the participation of farmers
identification of the most efficient and cost-effective schemes for use in selection programmes.
Participation
The group placed a high priority on using farmer participatory approaches and interdisciplinary teams at all stages of research programmes.
Extension
assessment of the effectiveness of existing extension services and proposals for improvements
evaluation of different extension methods.
Marketing
assessment of the impact of marketing systems on rangeland livestock production (IARCs)
evaluation of alternative methods of intensification.
