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| The N’Dama cattle (Photo credit: ITC) |
Mr Solomon Owens, Gambia’s
Minister of Agriculture is of the view that contributions of livestock sector
to food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and environment protection in
West Africa remain far below potential.
Many at times the stagnation in
livestock productivity is attributed to existence of major constraints to
technology generation, and the transfer and adoption that include a limited
knowledge of appropriate technologies and institutional weakness to spur
innovations, he said.
Mr. Owens was speaking Tuesday Jan.
29, 2013 during a Governing Council Meeting of the InternationalTrypanotolerance Centre (ITC) held at a local hotel in Kololi, The Gambia.
The ITC strives to accomplish
the mission to unlock the potential of West Africa’s ruminant livestock sector
through innovative partnerships and knowledge-based solutions that empower
stakeholders along value chains.
It is also mandated to carry
out studies on all aspects of Trypanotolerance for the benefit of all countries
which have Trypanotolerance.
To mitigate this situation will
requires accelerated adoption of the most-promising available technologies so
as to support immediate improvement of production by linking research and
extension systems to producers more efficiently, he said.
“It will also require
technology delivery systems that quickly bring innovations to farmers and
agribusiness,” he said. “And mechanisms that reduce the costs and risks of
adopting new technologies along the livestock value chain.”
Mr. Owens believes the
implementation of the above-identified strategies will be the dominant focus of
the new ITC.
The acting Director General
ITC, Dr Badou Ousman Jobe, said that there is a growing disparity
between population growth and food producing capacity of the developing world,
especially countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
“As a result, food supplies per
capita are decreasing,” he said.
However, he said the ITC has
successfully addressed the mandate of carrying out studies on all aspects of
Trypanotolerance for the benefit of all countries which have Trypanotolerance.
It even an expanded one that
evolved from the interesting outputs and outcomes it achieved during the first
decade or so of its existence, he said.
“It focused its activities on
the three endemic ruminant breeds: N’Dama cattle, Djallonke goats, and sheep
which are found all over the West Africa Region,” he noted.
He said the process it set up
possibly to the only sizeable open nucleus based “N’Dama breeding programme in
West Africa”.
This process, he claimed, has
produced regional and global public goods that had impact at the local level,
and contributed in no small measure to global pool of knowledge on these issues
and to improved livelihood systems of the producers, and national food security
goals.
“It is no surprise therefore
that during this period some two decades, ITC enjoy generous support and
collaboration with a variety of development partners,” he said.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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