Sri Lanka Agriculture Extension Association

National Symposium & Policy Dialogue

Strategies for Enhancing Governance of Extension &

Advisory Services

Animal Production
 Presentation Outline
• Progress of the Livestock Sector
• Missing link
• Successes
• Lessons learnt
• Weaknesses
• Challenges
• Extension: Existing Vs Expected
• Policy suggestions
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 Introduction – Progress of Animal
Production Sector (Data from FAO) –
Growth 1970 to 2013

Broiler Egg Milk Pork Beef Mutton

640% 469% 130% 48% -22% -48%

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Introduction – Progress of Animal
Production Sector – Ruminant Population
 Populatio 1970 2016 Total Annual
n Number Number Growth Growth
Buffalo 735,708 -42.1% -0.90%
426,257
Cattle 1,593,306 -14.3% -0.30%
1,366,195
Goat 556,362 -15.5% -0.33%
470,294
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Missing Link – Livestock  a driving force for food
security and sustainable development
• Food security through Feed security of Livestock - Pasture & fodder?
Subsidies for planting grass was given from 1971.
• Food crops -- crop residues and agro-industrial by-products

• Crop Residue – Feed resource - Animal Food Production

• Other food crops not in much demand as human food ?

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Introduction – Human food not much used --Probable
Animal Feed

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 Successes
• Poultry Industrialization and government facilitation
• From a backyard system to a dynamic industry.

• Animal protein availability increase protein consumption

• Egg and chicken meat cheapest animal protein source

.

Annual growth of 15%

(chicken meat) and 11%
(egg) from 1970 to 2013
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Successes
• Revolution in Maize production
• A major portion (90%) maize is used for chicken feeding
• Only 20% of the maize requirement was produced in Sri Lanka
• For the first time after 1978, DA and DAPH worked together
with the private sector to be self-sufficient in Maize
• This drive to lead by the private sector facilitated by DA.

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Successes
• Control of endemic, trans-boundary & emerging diseases
• Centralized administration to decentralized system (1989)

• Registration of farms – Poultry, Cattle, Buffalo, Goat &

Swine

• Monitoring hatcheries

• Advances in collection, management and use of animal

health information in disease control strategies 10
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lessons learnt - Ruminant feeds and feeding
• Most milk and meat produced by ruminants
reared on
• Poor quality herbage grazed-non-arable
land, forest areas and pasture land
• stubble left over from the cultivation of
crops (seasonal)
Milk Production Feeding Calendar of Livestock in the Dry...

• No irrigation water is provided for fodder

production

• Proper utilization, handling and processing of

crop-residue is important
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 lessons learnt - Ruminant feeds and feeding

• Cattle and buffaloes normally

lose condition and it will
reflect on
• milk production,

• calving intervals and

• age at calving of heifers.

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Weaknesses
1. Detaching /Disintegration of Crop-Livestock System
1.1 Mixed farming sector has 95% of the livestock.

1.2 Decline in the number of agricultural holdings keeping livestock -

Proportion of mixed farming from 53% in 60s to 21% landholdings (2001).

1.3 Keeping livestock for crop farmers - Risk reduction strategy, providers of
nutrients for growing crops, and Efficient disposal of crop by-products.

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 Weaknesses
2. Mismatch of genes in dairy cattle
2.1 New Bos taurus X Bos indicus crossbreds - unable to fuse into the
traditional agriculture system, have become a liability to the smallholder

2.3 Inadequate feeding,

2.4 Result in a small number of dairy animals in a national herd being in

milk at any one time. 19%

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Weaknesses
3. Goat – most neglected livestock sub-sector

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Strategies for Enhancing Governance of Extension and Advisory Services
 Weaknesses
Human Resource inadequately trained to support the rapid changes
• Changes which cause opportunities and threats to farmers
• Economic growth, increased agricultural productivity, globalization in trade in agricultural
products, Increasing gaps in income,
• Possibilities to increase farm income
• Changes in input supply, marketing system, and government and private organization
support.
• The role of extension worker in developing new farming systems is not only transfer of
technologies, but mainly developing and facilitating the process of decision making
including facilitating the development of farmers organizations which can support this
new system.
• Role of extension worker according to the needs of
• Smallholder farmers – Below 5 hectares – Primary income, Single owner estates – 5 to 20
hectares – Fraction of the income, a prestige holding, and Corporate sector estates -
Shareholders
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Extension and advisory services – Prevailing
System
Key Extension Service Functions
1. Achieving National
National Development Goals Food security
1. Control of endemic
diseases, trans-
boundary and emerging
2. Improving Rural Livelihoods diseases
2. Breed improvement
3. Extension and training
3. Improving Natural Resource
Management
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Extension & advisory services – System
expectation
Key Extension Service Functions
1. Achieving National
National Development Goals Food security 1.1 Transfer of technology for Milk and
egg production

2. Improving Rural Livelihoods 2.1 Teaching farmers how to diversify

their farming system
2.2 Organizing farmers in to producer
groups to increase market access

3. Improving Natural Resource 3.1Training farmers how to use

Management sustainable Natural Resource
Management (NRM)
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Strategies for Enhancing Governance of Extension and Advisory Services
 Main challenges
1. Farmer priority (of time and resources) for livestock is after crops
2. Crop by-products and dual purpose crops as livestock feeds
3. Genotype X Environment interaction- diverse production systems.
4. Management and mitigate environmental pollution.
5. Pluriactivity of arable land holders – farming income secondary.
6. Farmer problems and challenges are inadequately processed.
7. Zoonotic and emerging diseases and their impact to production and
human lives
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Policy suggestions I
1. Cohesion between major players (Animal agriculture, Crop
agriculture etc) in the food production system

2. Utilization of crop byproducts and dual purpose crop

products as ruminant feed

3. Local breeding / selection programs to prevent Mismatch

between genes and environment

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Policy suggestions II
4. Improvement in the milk collection system

5. Focused human resources management

6.Natural Resource Management and mitigation of

environmental pollution due to livestock

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 Thank you for your
attention

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