critical needs for livestock research for the coming decate
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from the Livestock Inter-Agency Donor Group (IADG) Meeting 2010. 4-5 May 2010 Italy, Rome IFAD Headquarters. The event involved approximately 45 representatives from the international partner agencies to discuss critical needs for livestock development and research issues for the coming decade. [ Originally posted on http://www.cop-ppld.net/cop_knowledge_base ]TRANSCRIPT
Rome, May 2010, IADG
by Carol Kerven
Odessa Centre UK
and poor goat farmers in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
Tests show that local Tajik and Kyrgyz goats in the
Pamir mountains produce fine quality cashmere
This high value commodity is sold by producers in
China and Mongolia
for $ 25-40 per kg
Goat keepers in the Pamirs
received $4.50 to $20 kg
between 2005-2009
Goats are sold for meat, kept
for milk and recently,
harvested for cashmere
Cattle, sheep and yaks are
mainly kept by richer villagers
Surveys find that the poorest
villagers mainly keep goats –
cheaper to buy, easier to manage
and reproduce faster
Cashmere moults in spring and is combed or shorn. Combed is more valuable
Local traders obtain cash from
Chinese processors and buy
from individual villagers
Road transport is difficult.
High capital and technical
inputs required for processing
50% of value is added after sorting
and dehairing (removing rough hair)
Spinning, weaving and knitting
into garments China, Mongolia, Italy, UK, Japan
and Korea are the main
manufacturers.
EACH PROCESSING STAGE ADDS
VALUE
Price 2009 One kg USD
Pamir goat farm 4.5
Local Tajik trader 6.3
Kyrgyz city Chinese 10-16
Dehaired in China 12-50
Wholesale in UK 50-100
Retail in sweater 450 – 4,500
FINER QUALITY COSTS MORE
In the Soviet period, other goat
breeds were introduced with low
quality cashmere
� Italy and Scotland make the most up-market cashmere items
� They require the finest and most expensive cashmere - $100/kg
� Retail price of a sweater is up to $1,200
� Superior quality cashmere is rare, mostly sourced in China, but found on some Pamiri goats in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
�
� Cashmere from Pamiri goats is
sometimes too short for
commercial processing
� The harvest per goat is often
very low – less than 100 g.
Local breeds are a valuable genetic resource in the region, but at risk of being lost through interbreeding with introduced breeds
Over 20 percent of the world's livestock breeds are at risk of extinction, and in the past six years, sixty breeds have been lost (The State of the World's Report on AnGR: FAO).
We need to characterise local goat breeds, including:� Identifying locations of local breeds� Analyze DNA � Body size, growth rates and prolificacy� Analyze whole fibre, including cashmere� Compare indices with other local goat breeds in different
ecological zones of Central Asia
Once existing relict local breeds are located and characterised:
� Need to conserve local goat breeds with best quality
cashmere, prolificacy and meat/milk outputs
� Create nucleus research and breeding flocks of
the best indigenous goats
� Assess appropriate technology in production countries, e.g.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, for cashmere processing
� Assess potential new markets for high quality cashmere
� Create links between commercial buyers and village
production sources, to market high quality cashmere