Improvement of Livestock Production in Crop-Animal Systems in ...

• Assessment and application of technology options that are cost-effective, appropriate and sustainable.• Development of methodology for implementing research and development projects at the field levelthat involve farmer–researcher participation, monitoring and the measurement of environmental impact.Inherent in this re-orientation of research emphasis is a distinct systems approach that is targeted on thecongruence between productivity and sustainability.• Strong institutional capacity, supported by appropriate policies, will be very important for theintensification of animal production systems and the sustainable use of natural resources. Well-trainedscientists, with a systems vision and new knowledge, will be vital to this approach.NetworksThe following represent some of the more important networks relevant to animal production and health inAsia and the Pacific and the year of termination where known.• Asian Fibrous Agricultural Residues Network—1988• Asian Rice Farming Systems Network—1993• Forage Network—1989• Small Ruminant Production Systems Network for Asia—1994• Asian Biotechnology Network for Animal Production and Health—1996• Regional Network on Better Use of Locally Available Feed Resources for Sustainable LivestockProduction in South-East Asia—1997• South-East Asian Feed Resources Research and Development Network• The Asian Network for Domestic Animal Diversity• Asia-Pacific Network on Animal Health Information• Office for International Epizootics Help for Animal Disease Status.Without exception, all the networks were established with donor funding. Within countries, verylimited attempts have been made to establish national networks. One example from south Asia is theAll-India Coordinated Research Project on the Utilisation of Agricultural By-products and IndustrialWaste Materials for developing economic rations for livestock. Such national networks are extremelyuseful for strengthening research–extension linkages and the process of technology assessment andtransfer at the farm level. ILRI research programmes in the future will need to build on the efforts of theabove networks.ConclusionsThe assessment of crop–animal systems through the field visits to individual countries led to the followingconclusions.1. The two most important production systems were annual food crop systems integrated with bothruminants and non-ruminants, and perennial tree crop systems integrated with ruminants. In the former,a wide range of combinations were encountered, but information on the rationale and the methodologiesused for integration, and the economic and environmental impacts were not available.2. Feed resources and nutrition emerged as the major technical constraint in most countries and, associatedwith this, collection and storage, and generally inefficient feeding systems. Component-technologyinterventions in animal nutrition tended to give beneficial results, but the extent of adoption of thesetechnologies by the farmer was poor. The above two conclusions confirm the findings in the literaturereview in Chapter 3.