Livestock production: How govt can help
I WAS an undergraduate some 30 years ago when animal production in the tropics was discussed and deliberated at length.
It was already an open secret that we could take advantage of a year-round growing period for generating animal feed resources which could dramatically increase animal production tonnage.
It was also said that it is in the tropics where one sees countries with relatively under-developed animal industries.
Joseph Madamba, a Development Specialists International, in his paper “Current Status of Animal Production in the Tropics” stated that we have made some progress in increasing productivity but have barely dented the sufficiency barrier.
The situation has not changed for Malaysia as she continues to be self-sufficient in poultry, eggs and pork but also continue to be insufficient in milk and beef production despite the country¡¯s massive program to attain beef and dairy sufficiency.
Livestock production is at best a private-driven enterprise while the government provides the anchor.
The government must undertake research and development but avoid in reinventing the wheel.
As the man on the street will say, if the government fails, how do one expect the private sector to succeed?
But in today’s world, the private sector has the funds and expertise to undertake research and trials in livestock production.
The government only needs to provide encouragement, incentive, markets, legal assistance, land and political stability.
The government will spearhead the industry through licensing, import and export, quality of breeds, disease surveillance, training and veterinary technical know-how.
There were strategy formulations for the livestock industry but it required a series of re-orientation moves.
Firstly, they talked about fitting livestock inventory to available feed resources. Here, they talked about the removal of free loaders so that only productive animals are kept.
Secondly, they talked about weaning away the livestock industry from heavy dependence on feed grains that can be eaten directly by humans. They were talking about relying mostly on farm waste and by-products.
Thirdly, they talked about stock improvement, using exotic breeds to improve native breeds but there were constraints to this. They argued that livestock development strategy would be more workable if one pays attention to feed and fodder development than genetic improvement. The key to lowcost meat production is good quality pasture.
They had rightly stated that the one particular annoying problem, even after a thorough overhaul of a country’s livestock industry, was for livestock raisers of a developing country to see their produce edged out of their own local market by a flood of meat and dairy products imports.
To Madamba, this is where the government comes in to alleviate the problem, but at the same time, the producers could start by being more strongly organised.
The integrated farming system approach has been practised by Asian farmers. There is a need to develop different technological packages that are suited to specific agro-climatic zones and socio-economic and cultural patterns.
This farming system can reduce poverty among the indigenous people. However, the government must provide at least five acres of land per person or family, financial and technical support.
A success in this program can assist the government to attain food security.
In Sabah, our priority in agriculture and land use is on short term cash crops and plantation crops. Poor infertile land is given to livestock production.
The proposed integrated pig farm at Telupid is a brilliant move by the government. It will reduce environmental pollution locally and, at the same time, disease monitoring and surveillance can be enhanced. Of course, we can only hope and wait for this project to materialize.
Cattle farming has been proven to be successful in oil palm plantations. The oil palm industry covers over two million hectares of fertile land.
The mills can produce palm kennel cake (PKC) and the palm fronds can be harvested for animal feed daily.
Malaysia is reported to produce more than 1.4 million tons of PKC annually. The success in cattle production is assured with the available feed all year round, rain or shine. Sadly, at the moment, most of our PKC are exported to other countries.
I had supported the government to require oil palm plantations to allocate 10% of their land for agriculture. This is an important step to address the issue of food security.
Oil palm plantations have the resources to produce food crops, freshwater fish and beef production.
Oil palm plantations have heeded the government¡¯s call to rear cattle in their plantations. Many did but are facing difficulty in marketing them.
With the high exchange rate, local beef is getting popular. It is important that the government reduces beef imports accordingly as local beef production increases.
If oil palm plantations start to expand their livestock production, what is the government incentive for them?
What can the government give to the planters in return for their 10% land excised and developed for food production and security?