Role

and
Responsibilities
of
Livestock Sector in
Poverty Alleviation
Sunil Gamage
Former Deputy Director Veterinary
Research

Permit me to ask you a

question ??
This building is around 70 years old
How long will it last?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

50 years
100 years
200 years
500 years
1000 years

What Our Rulers Did in the Past 2000 bc to

1000
ad
Rulers of Ancient Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Pharaohs of Egypt

Our farmers
could grow
food during
the dry period
This is food security
These systems lasted over 2000 years

Sout Sri
Food Security Indicators
Afric
Lank
from 1990/91 to 2010/14 World h
a
Asia
a
%
Average dietary
18.6
energy supply
8.8% 3.8%
9.3%
%
adequacy
Share of dietary
%
energy supply
derived from
10.3 10.4 -3.3%-1.6%
cereals, roots and g/cap
%
%
Average
protein
18.8 10.2
tubers
ut/da 14.5% 8.9%
supply
%
%
y
Average supply of
g/cap
29.2 40.0 36.4
protein of animal
ut/da
7.7%
%
%
%
origin
y
%
Prevalence of
41.9 34.3 28.1 28.3
undernourishment
%
%
%
%
%
Prevalence of food
34.9 25.3 31.1 26.5
inadequacy
%
%
%
%

Progress of local production - 1970 to

2015
45
Annua
year
l
Produ
Production
grow growt
ct
th
h
Broile
r
Egg

Milk

14,400 to 106,029 640% 14.8%

tons
19,453 to 110,753 469% 10.9%
tons
141,080 to 324,805 130%
3.0%
tons
80% of the milk is imported

Goat most neglected livestock

sub-sector
Slide 3

Successes in the Poultry

Industry
From a backyard industry , poultry sector has
shown a phenomenal growth and emerged as a
dynamic industry.
Can be rated as the most successful agriculture
enterprise
Boosted the animal protein availability
Egg and chicken meat became the cheapest animal
protein source. Rs 175 per pound USA Rs 215
Supported private sector extension program by the
government
Commodity based
Accountability

Revolution in Maize
production
80% of maize is used for chicken
feeding
Only 20% requirement produced
DoA together with the private sector
Grown in lands used for human food
production

Family Poultry Sector Backyard Poultry

1985 35% of egg and 40% meat

1998 5% from this sector

Backyard Poultry development program

Collection of genotypes
Breeding for higher egg production
Fitting the Feed resource base
2008 15% egg and meat

Ruminants
Detaching /Disintegration of Crop and
Livestock Production System
1.1 Specialization of crop and livestock has
increased food production
1.2
Mixed farming sector has 95% of the
Ruminants.
1.3
Decline in the number of agricultural
holdings keeping livestock
1.3.1 The proportion of mixed farming sector from
21% of the agriculture land
holdings (2001).
This has gone down from 53% since the 1960s

Ruminants
Detaching /Disintegration of Crop and
Livestock Production System
1.4 Keeping livestock is important for crop
farmers and vise versa
1.4.1 As risk reduction strategy for farming
community Increased income
1.4.2 Livestock are important providers of
nutrients for growing crops in smallholder
systems, and
1.4.3 Efficient disposal of crop by-products.

Mismatch of genes in
dairy cattle
2.1 Introduced high producing taurine cattle
and semen from Europe Developed a
crossbred cattle population. Bos taurus X
Bos indicus
2.2 These performed better than pure Bos
indicus breeds as expected,
2.3 Was unable to fuse into the traditional
agriculture system.
2.4 They have more or less become a liability
to
the
smallholder
mixed
farming
community.

Policies securing basics & reducing

vulnerability
Enable the access to
Land - Land reform 1972, Landless & land
limited, grazing land

Water - for irrigation, domestic uses and

hydropower production.
40,000-50,000 metric tons of fish on an annual
basis

Feed
Grazing in tank beds &flood plain marshes
inundated during rainy season
Dung -nutrient to river & tank aquatic system
Crop residue
Feed crops - Maize

Policies creating the

conditions for growth

Access to animal health services

Decentralized extension service
Access to credit, high-quality
inputs and other trade expansion
facilities Milk collection
Access to market information HARTI

Policies sustaining sectors

growth
Regulating the livestock
sector through
Disease management,
Quarantine,
Quality control and food
safety regulations

What We learnt from Africa

Science and technology
Local plant and animal breeding programs
introduced drought resistant sp and disease
resistant sp those are traditionally farmed by
small scale farmers.
This meant that these farming communities had
some food to fall back when their main crops fail, and
start food production activities.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/327/5967/818

Increased the types of items in the family food

basket
http://www.mars.com/global/african-orphan-crops.aspx
http://www.cgiar.org/consortium-news/plant-breeding-academyboosting-africas-food-supply-with-improved-indigenous-crops/

Famine early warning systems, weather reports

were made available to the farming community

What can Sri Lanka learn from

Africa

Food distribution system

http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu22we/uu22we
0b.htm

Local food stockpiles

https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odiassets/publications-opinion-files/6718.pdf

Regulations and drought coping

strategies
http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Events/Dak
Agri2015/Climate_Smart_Agriculture_in_the_African_Context.pdf

Commodity based extension service