| Technical Assistance Grant (TAG)
Information |
| TAG Number: |
443 |
| Grant Amount: |
USD 875 000 (Total project cost is
USD 2 567 500) |
| Countries: |
Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal,
Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam |
| Implementing organizations: |
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI);
national agriculture research systems (NARS); the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Australian Centre for International
Research (ACIAR); Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO); and the University of Tropical Agriculture Foundation
(UTAF) |
| Grant type: |
Agricultural Research Grant |
| Duration: |
Four years |
| Grant approval: |
29 April 1999 |
| Starting date: |
31 August 1999 |
| Closing date: |
30 September 2003 |
| |
Background
Small ruminant livestock are important elements of the pathway out of
poverty for millions of the rural poor in Asia and the Pacific. All livestock
have a special role to play in the conversion of feed that is unsuitable
for humans into food and other useful products, but small livestock, such
as goats and sheep, are especially important for the poorest livestock
keepers and for the landless who could start to raise livestock.
Helminth parasites are important for two reasons. First, their impact
on health reduces the level of output of meat, milk and manure, and reduces
asset value though increased mortality, especially of young stock. Second,
a sustainable approach to the control of gastrointestinal nematodes of
goats and sheep has been to integrate many interventions, involving feeding,
breeding, grazing management and health control. Thus, this project (IFAD
Technical Assistance Grant No. 443) on integrated control of nematode
helminths in goats in Southeast Asia has become a springboard for a wide
range of improvements in goat production, driven mainly by a reduction
in mortality and better use and management of local resources.
The explanation for this may lie in the biology of some helminths, whose
life cycles are very closely linked to the nutrient cycle in a grazing
system. Good management of the nutrient cycle may simply lead to good
management of parasites transmitted by parasitic larvae or cysts in the
feed supply. Alternatively, it is possible that an integrated and holistic
approach to any of the major constraints facing livestock production,
for example, quality and quantity of feed, endemic and epidemic diseases,
inadequate access to markets, may lead to overall improvements in productivity
and security. Success may be as closely linked to the approach to the
problem as it is to effectiveness of the technical components in the solution.
An integrated approach to worm control in goats
Approximately 10% of the world’s sheep and 29% of the world’s
goats are to be found in Southeast Asia. Haemonchosis, a disease caused
by blood-sucking stomach worms, has been identified as the most serious
endoparasite constraint on small ruminant production in Southeast Asia.
It is difficult to combat this disease, as conventional parasite control
with drugs is affected by increased anthelmintic resistance. Modern control
methods, e.g. an investigation of host genetic resistance, are promising
tools, but benefits will take some time to realize. Rapid recognition
of anthelmintic resistance at an early stage in its development is the
key to the formulation of recommendations for the better use of anthelmintics,
e.g. strategic drenching. This ensures also that quarantine recommendations
can be developed in a timely manner to minimize the spread of resistant
parasites to areas that have not yet been infected.
The starting point for this project was to develop breeds of goats and
sheep in Southeast Asia that had genetic resistance to nematode infections,
and to develop better methods for the detection of anthelmintic resistance.
This built on successful research in a number of tropical countries, where
breed differences had been demonstrated in sheep and goats, and on research
on the detection of resistance in Australia. The concept was to develop
resistant genotypes and then integrate this genetic component into a comprehensive
control programme that made intelligent use of chemicals. However, as
ideas were discussed among the research group over many months, two major
changes to the concept emerged.
First, it was agreed that there had been sufficient research on a number
of options for worm control in sheep and goats to enable a group of ‘experts’
to design effective control programmes without waiting for new genetic
information. These “best-bet” options (including systematic
drenching, rotational grazing and use of medicated feed blocks) would
be validated with farmers as needed and, as new data became available
and new options developed, these would be added to the mix of control
measures.
The second conceptual change was based on the simple observation that
over many years there have been many technologies developed for worm control
in large and small ruminants, but that the uptake of these technologies
was very low. A classic example is the drenching of buffalo calves at
2 weeks of age to completely break the life cycle of T. vitulorum. It
then became a clear objective of the group to understand why there was
so little adoption. One immediate conclusion was that farmers had to be
intimately involved in the research and development of possible control
programmes. It was concluded that no technologies could be effective without
an understanding of the real needs of small-ruminant farmers.
Thus
the thrust of this project, and a regional objective of ILRI, became research
into appropriate technologies, and implementing the research with the
participation of the full range of partners (Figure 1).
These partners are the farmers, extension workers, biological, social
and economic scientists, government officials and investors, whose support
and commitment are needed to develop an effective programme that removes
internal parasites as a constraint on production. The end product may
not be a control programme in the conventional sense, but a set of changes
that minimizes the impact of worms on mortality, income and the livelihood
of farmers.
A working definition of sustainable parasite control (SPC) has been
developed in a number of workshops and discussions. SPC:
is an approach combined with a set of technologies (Figure
2);- includes grazing management, nutrition, deworming, breeding, housing,
and additional technologies as they become available from applied research;
- requires farmer and researcher to work and learn together, with good
information and tools (Figure 3);
- is directed at improving income and security of livestock keepers;
and
- does not rely on any single control measure.
Grant
purpose
The objectives were to:
- reduce poverty amongst smallholder farmers in south and Southeast
Asia through the improvement of small ruminant productivity; and
- promote the sustainable use of integrated parasite control and establishment
of a participatory process to solve problems associated with endemic
livestock disease.
Components
Studies and assessment
Available information on methods of use and application of anthelmintics,
management practices and nutrition as a mean of controlling worm parasites
in small ruminants were assessed. A diagnostic survey of the causes of
continued mortality of goats was undertaken;
SPC strategies available in tree–livestock and crop–livestock
production systems in the rainfed ecological zones of Southeast Asia were
further developed and tested. Testing included SPC options as “best-bet”
practices, including ex ante economic impact studies involving trials
on the economic effects of infection in sheep and goats.
The technical options included in the current programme in the Philippines
include:
- Use of effective chemicals, incorporating knowledge on anthelmintic
resistance and use of alternative delivery methods, such as feed blocks.
Quarantine drenching is an appropriate strategy for institutions and
large commercial suppliers of stock.
- Improved nutrition, including the use of tree and shrub leaves to
reduce intake for ground-based and contaminated feeds; plants with possible
direct or indirect anthelmintic effect; and cut-and-carry methods, especially
during times of heavy rain or heavy pasture contamination.
-
Grazing
management addresses improved housing to reduce stress through better
ventilation, shelter (Figure 4), manure and feed
management (Figure 5), rotational grazing and management
of contaminated areas around housing.
- Controlled breeding includes timing of breeding to have young susceptible
kids and lambs when worms can be best managed; and considering possible
increase or decrease in genetic resistance when deciding to use new
genetic inputs, especially ‘upgraded’ or ‘improved’
bucks and rams.
All of these options are based on experimentation that has been conducted
with farmers, extension workers and local scientists. If new technologies,
such as vaccines, selective breeding, biological control and other ‘upstream’
methodologies can meet the needs of small-scale farmers who have restricted
access to innovations, limited cash for inputs and a wide range of uses
for their goats and sheep, then it would an interesting addition to
the basket of technology options available for worm control.
-
Adaptation
and improvement of an existing computer model for use by research and
extension agencies in assessing worm control options in different agro-ecological
zones and farming systems in the tropics. A computer model called Wormworld,
developed in Australia to assess the impact of resistance to anthelmintics
on the control of worm parasites on pasture-based systems, was adapted
to the requirements of animal husbandry in the target regions. A further
objective was to adapt the model to non-pasture-based systems.
? Capacity building was undertaken through on-farm research activities
and training for villagers, covering the various SPC options, in order
to develop a cadre of auxiliary extension workers, village vaccinators
and veterinary auxiliaries.
- Workshops with training, planning and review components were organized
at the beginning of the programme, and planned for the end of project
activities.
Impact
The programme is ongoing, and significant recent activities include:
- continuing the development of “Tropical Wormworld” –
an epidemiological model for the control of the major nematodes parasites
of small ruminants in Southeast Asia;
- creation of the web-ready interface for Tropical Wormworld;
- development of the Sustainable Parasite Control for Small Ruminants
(SPC database), with 1 415 bibliographic records (794 records with abstract)
so far;
- distribution of the SParC Information System (SIS) CD;
- completion of reviews of data for Thailand, Fiji, the Philippines,
and Indonesia, and in progress for Malaysia, Nepal and Viet Nam;
- preparation of Project Working Papers;
- completion of workshops on Train the Trainers and Laboratory Diagnosis
of Resistance to Helminths in the Philippines;
- completion of a Planning Workshop in Lao PDR in September 2001;
- a meeting of national liaison officers to discuss the project logframe
and supervision mission outcomes;
- participation of five project staff in the Participatory Research
and Development Training Course of CIP-Upward;
- completion of the first assessment of small ruminant production systems
in Cambodia;
- an assessment of opportunities for SPC in Nepal;
- selection of communities following participatory diagnosis in the
Philippines, Indonesia, Viet Nam and the Lao PDR;
- Community Action Planning and training for farmers and local extension
workers in technology options and participatory methods in the Philippines,
Indonesia and Viet Nam;
- selection, experimentation and validation of technology options at
three sites in the Philippines; and
- monitoring and evaluation of the project in all countries, and social,
economic and biological evaluation at the three sites in Pangasinan
and Cebu in the Philippines.
