290th
Meeting - Tuesday, July 10th 2007
“More
tribes at risk –
in Farm Animal Genetic Resources.
The Thai situation”
A
talk and DVD presentation
by Dr Vanida
Khumnirdpetch and David Steane
The word ‘tribes’ refers to
‘breeds’ in animal terms. Many breeds are at serious risk
of being extinct while, as yet, we do not know sufficient about their
genetics and their qualities. Many breeds have been replaced,
or are in the process of being, by breeds from the
‘developed’ world simply on the basis that, in their own
environment, they give better output. However in the local environment
they usually do not perform well and create situations either of debt
or where the farmer is forced to adopt practices which cost much for
relatively little gain. To give an example, the Holstein Friesian is
used in Thailand and can hardly breed well enough to maintain a pure
bred herd while the milk yield is about 30-40% of temperate country
yields. The breed loss globally is very serious and FAO has been
addressing this aspect for some years culminating in a global
conference in Interlaken in September this year at which a global
policy and priorities will be hopefully agreed! The long-term
effect is lack of sustainable production and no adapted breeds
remaining to take up the task once the affects of the additional inputs
on environment and cost are fully considered.
David Steane: Over 20 years as Head of Animal
breeding for the Meat and Livestock Commission in Britain (MLC was the
development agency for beef cattle, sheep and pigs). Then in June 1989
joined FAO at the Headquarters in Rome as Animal Production Officer and
in December 1993 moved to Bangkok as Chief Technical Adviser to a
regional project “Conservation and Use of Farm Animal Genetic
Resources in Asia” covering 12 countries. I retired late 1999 and
now am Adviser on genetics and biodiversity to the Thai Department of
Livestock Development (DLD), I do occasional lectures at CMU and other
universities and am a consultant in Livestock Production and Management
of Animal Genetic Resources.
Dr Vanida graduated from Kasetsart University, did
a Masters there and then went to one of the world’s major
locations for animal breeding –University of Guelph in Canada, to
do a Ph.D. She works for the DLD in the Animal Husbandry Division
and is responsible for Genetic Diversity and Agricultural Biodiversity.
She is also the National Coordinator for Animal Genetic Resources and
represents Thailand at the international on this subject –
particularly with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the
Convention on Biodiversity (CBD).
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