In September 2010, four CGIAR Centers – CIAT, ICARDA, ILRI and WorldFish – formally submitted a proposal on ‘livestock and fish’ to the CGIAR Consortium Board (CB).
We just received feedback and guidance from the CB as well as comments from 4 external reviewers. Overall, the Consortium Board “appreciates the innovations in this proposal, and its overall quality. The Board considers that, with a few additional improvements, the proposal will be ready to be submitted to the Fund Council.”
The Board and the reviewers also raise some important questions about our proposal – which means we have much work to do if we are to submit a revised proposal before March 5, 2011.
We need your help to respond to some of the critical questions raised by the reviewers:
CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish 
Livestock and fish production by the poor can actually, and is really contributing to nutrition of the poor.
My observation is that small holder producers who could be termed “poor” by western standards contribute a considerable lot in terms of quantity of livestock and fish. I guess the worry is that they do not produce much. But small by several people really will, and does amount to much in the long run.
What should be uppermost in our strategy is to improve yields because to my mind the “poor” will produce what the “poor” can afford.
Look at it this way, a small producer of fish sells it in his community and can even sell on credit for a short time so no poor person is left out of nutrient from fish. Same goes for other livestock products.
Dr. Edehe Etuk
Department of Animal Science and Technology
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria
Edehe,
Agreed! And a good point about the possible added dimension of social capital strengthening community-level food security in very local markets.
I strongly support this project and the objective of increasing fish and poultry production in poor communities for thefollowing reasons:
1. The choice of fish and poultry is
fine because the two enterprises can be integrated to enhance economic benefits and and ecolgical efficiency as has been seen in S.E. Asia and Nigeria (Akinrotimi et al. 2007- Scientific Research and Assay,2(8) 302-308).
2. Poultry and fish enterprises can benefit women and youth and can bring qiuck economic and nutritional returns if well intgrated with the private sector.For Poultry one of the best examples one could refer to is the Kuroiler Model in S.E Asia West Bengal, a Rural-based programme,which combines good practice, strategy, structure of organisation, well defined actors and clear out comes-SA PPLPP(2009) Code: Code SAGP01, Linking Business with Pro-Poor Development: “A Backyard Poultry Value Chain Increases Assets. Incomes and Nutrion”. Good Practice Note, NEWDELI India
The Project Concludes:
“Poverty is not just about incomes, but also the availability of of an invaluable nutritional source with built household capabilities”. Please read this Article.
3. I feel the choice of Partnership in ILRI’s is tricky as there appear to be many actors in value chain. This could be advantagious but also retrogressive as has been the case at times, in the Dairy sector in Uganda.
William Olaho-Mukani
I mentioned sometime ago that if you have livestock and fish then it should in many cases be combined with biogas when the biogas slurry can fertize plankton in the fish pond so from livestock and human manure you can get gas for cooking and fertilizer for fish pond and eventiually fertilizer from the water in the pond. This is very successful in Vietnam for instance. I think at least it should be mentioned. E R orskov
Prof E R Orskov Macaulay institute Craigiebuckler Aberdeen AB15 8QH Scotland UK
I agree with Prof. Orskov thought, livestock byproducts play an important role in rural communities. Including poultry fish and other commodities with their byproducts utilization certainly contribute in rural economy and health.
Netra Osti
National Animal Science Research Institute (NASRI) Khumaltar Lalitpur Nepal