Smallholders play a vital role

By JAMES LARAKI
THE contribution of smallholder livestock to the achievement of Millennium Develop­ment Goals (MDGs) is unquestionable, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) says.
It notes there is worldwide evidence of a direct linkage between the improvement of smallholder livestock production and poverty reduction.
ILRI also notes that millions of smallholder livestock producers could climb out of po­verty by taking advantage of the explosive growth in demand for livestock products in developing countries.
This revolution caused by raising population, growing middle class and urbanisation, is creating new market opportunities for livestock products.
Despite this, national and international institutions are still reluctant to support smallholder livestock production systems, both financially and through adequate policy support.
And PNG is no exception.
We have been really struggling in livestock research and development in the country for the past 10 to 15 years despite of its significant role.
Livestock makes significant contribution to the livelihoods of the rural people but support provided is inadequate to meet the needs of smallholders.
We need a comprehensive approach to ensure all aspects of the value chain is addressed to improve smallholder livestock production, particularly to ensure access inputs (appropriate breeding stock, feeding systems, equipment), services (breeding, veterinary, extension and credit services) and markets including transport.
The National Agricultural Research Institute takes note of the important role of smallholder livestock to the livelihoods of the people. In its efforts to facilitate smallholder livestock development, it is proposing to implement a major national project.
The project – Innovative de­velopment of smallholder livestock sector in Papua New Guinea – is one of the three impact projects that NARI has agreed to deliver under the performance agreement signed with the government early this year.
These projects will be implemented between 2013 and 2015 consistent with the Alotau Accord and the prime minister’s state of the nation address that encapsulated the key priority
of the O’Neill government.
The other two projects to be implemented under this agreement are – preparedness to intermittent and prolonged droughts and frosts, and domestication, commercialisation and development of canarium (galip) nut industry.
The proposed project aims to enhance productivity, efficiency and stability of smallholder livestock production systems.
The project will be implemented from 2013 to 2016 with an expected outcome of an efficient, effective and innovative smallholder livestock sector con­tributing to the economic growth by making full use of available resources. It is expected to make available suitable livestock breeding stock and other farm inputs for smallholders to improve their production.
NARI also hopes to work closely with other relevant partners to explore markets opportunities for priority livestock products and enterprises.
Feed systems, animal health, pests, diseases, parasites and improved animal husbandry practices are other areas that this project will focus on. Hopefully, the project will improve the output of smallholder growers.
Many of these issues remain a major hindrance for the smallholders to participate in the fast expanding domestic markets.
With increase in population and raising middles class along with mega projects such as LNG and others coming on stream, the demand for livestock pro­ducts such as meat and eggs will increase.
It is hoped the proposed project will address these constraints, as the current support at national, provincial and local level are inadequate.
The proposed project hopefully provides an opportunity to evaluate current services (if any), design simple and more effective support network for smallholders and build capacity to ensure services can be sustainably provided to the sector.
Past efforts may not have seriously addressed these constraints. NARI’s research effort in livestock has been focusing on feeding systems.
Various lower-cost feeding technologies that maximise use of local feed resources have been developed, evaluated and released to the farming community for possible adoption.
The feeding technologies released by NARI are sweet potato silage for growing pigs released in 2010 and broiler concentrate released in 2011.
Such system will enable smallholder farmers to blend appropriate proportions of boiled sweet potato or cassava tubers with formulated concentrates to make balanced diets for broilers, layer hens and growing pigs.
These feeding options have been proven to be effective in significantly reducing the cost of feeds, even when the tubers are bought from local markets. In most cases, farmers can use sweet potato or cassava produced in their backyards, which further cuts down the cost of feeding, and thereby improving profitability of the livestock enterprises.
The proposed project can build on lessons learnt from these projects and other relevant projects relating to animal health and production. While proposed project looks promising, any useful output, we assume can be delivered from collaborative effort of all partners.
To stimulate development of smallholder livestock industry, appropriate policies need to be formulated and implemented by the government and stakehol­ders. We also hope that the pri­vate sector and other stakeholders actively participate in the proposed project as NARI achieve the expected outcome on its own.