FOREWORD
Since its formation in 1989 the Regional Working Group (RWG) on Grazing
and Feed Resources for Southeast Asia has held meetings in Serdang,
Malaysia (1989), Los Banos in Philippines
(1991), Khon Kaen, Thailand (1993), Nha Trang, Vietnam (1995), Vientiane,
Lao P.D.R. (1996) and Legaspi, Philippines
(1998).
The seventh meeting, held from 2-7 July, 2001 in Manado,
Indonesia, was organized for the RWG by Prof. David Kaligis
and Dr. Francisco (Frank) Moog and was attended by some 31 participants
(20 from Indonesia, 3 from Malaysia, 6 from Philippines and 2 from Thailand)
as well as a number of additional staff from Sam Ratulangi
University, Dinas Peternakan
etc. who assisted with the organization and field visits. The programme
consisted of papers, posters, discussions and field visits; presentation
of posters was a new initiative and was well received. In addition two
young entrepreneurs who run commercial feedlots in Philippines
attended the Meeting at their own expense and added a new dimension.
The main theme was “Forage Development in Southeast Asia:
Strategies and Impacts” with papers presented under six sub-themes (Plantation/integrated
systems, Smallfarmer systems, Upland systems, Lowland
systems, Industrial systems (feedlotting/fattening)
and Range/ranching systems), concluding with a mini-workshop which focused
on the effects of forages on economic development, social improvement
and environmental sustainability. A full day was spent visiting
small farmers in Lemoh (pastures under coconuts)
and feedlots in Tomohon and Tampusu as well as a half day visit to agri-business projects
at Bitung.
Main issues to emerge during the Meeting:
Session 1:
Plantation/integrated systems – three main papers and 3 poster papers.
The main paper by Wong Choi Chee (Malaysia) provided an excellent overview,
well supported by papers from Indonesia (David Kaligis)
and Philippines (Frank Moog). In Malaysia the main emphasis is on using low
stocking rates and local pastures, as the low light intensities in many
rubber and oil palm plantations mean that expensively established improved
pastures often decline rapidly as canopy cover closes. Sheep integration
has been less successful in Malaysia. When palm oil and rubber prices
were high there was less interest in integrating cattle into plantations,
but now with low commodity prices many estates and plantations are interested
and there have been good developments in terms of integration in the
last few years. Major areas of emphasis in the livestock industry in
Malaysia in the current Development Plan
are the integration of livestock in plantations and smallholdings, and
the use of tree by-products for feedlotting
in plantation areas.
Session
2:
Small farmer systems – three main papers and four poster papers. The
first paper (M.A. Amril Indonesia) confirmed that leucaena is an accepted part of the farming system
in Selatan Province, Sulawesi and contributes significantly to
farmer income through its role as a livestock feed. Chin Fook
Yuen (Malaysia) reported on forage development
and management in a communal grazing system. The Brachiarias,
especially B. decumbens, were successfully
established but this depended on good co-operation and commitment within
the Group. The successful propagation and introduction of hybrid leucaena
to a village in Batangas, Philippines (R. Acasio)
illustrated the need for good co-operation between researcher, extension
worker and farmer. The farmer must be accepted as an equal partner;
farmers will accept innovations it they fit into and complement the
existing system.
Session 3:
Upland Systems – three main papers and
3 poster papers. Ibrahim (Indonesia) argued that the participatory
approach is very effective for transferring new technologies to farmers
with the number of farmers involved with forage improvement increasing
from 7 to 120 farmers in an area of East Kalimantan over a three year period. K. Maaruf (Indonesia) demonstrated that supplementation
of napier with Gliricidia
reduced feeding costs and increased farmer income. Dr K. Rochiman
(Indonesia) illustrated the effects of rhizobium inoculation and defoliation interval on Stylosanthes yields.
Session
4: Lowland
Systems – two main papers and one poster paper. In Thailand production
of hay (mainly from Pangola grass – Digitaria decumbens)
in some lowland areas has been found to be more profitable than growing
rice, with hay producers selling on the hay to dairy farmers, horse
owners, an elephant park etc. (Poathong and
Phaikaew – Thailand). Paath
et al (Indonesia) found that while ammoniated rice
straw gave lower liveweight gains than feeding
grass, had lower palatability and less was consumed, it can
serve as an alternative feed source, especially in the dry season when
little green fodder is available. Goats with access to tree fodder in
rice growing areas of Central
Luzon were
found to grow faster than those with no access and farmers received
from 10-30% more income.
Session 5: Industrial systems (feedlotting/fattening)
– three main papers and 5 poster papers. Chaisang
Phaikaew (Thailand) noted that a major focus of the forage
programme is to provide good quality feed for livestock in
order to reduce the use (and therefore the cost) of concentrates. Paspalum atratum,
napier, guinea, Cavalcade centro and Desmanthus
virgatus are popular. A new development is the emergence
of a group of farmers who grow grass for sale to large dairy farms;
also napier silage
is made in plastic bags and drums and sold to other farmers. Seed producers
(farmers) and DLD produce on average 400 tons of grass and legume seed
per year, with in addition an unknown quantity of seed sold directly
by farmers. Ejercito (Philippines) reported on the growing of corn for use
as green chop in a feedlot providing cattle to Manila. This is in an area of the Philippines where the dry season is generally short,
but if longer dry spells are anticipated then quantities of corn silage
are produced. Corn is also ensiled with wastes and residues such as
asparagus, reject bananas, pineapple waste
etc. The feedlot requires 50,000 tons of forage per year for the present
throughput of cattle (although beef sales have recently dipped as a
reaction to the “mad cow disease” scare). In this case the corn is raised
by small farmers and sold to the feedlot, so the farmers as well as
workers employed for harvesting and chopping make a good income. They
are able to produce 4 crops per year (compared with those growing corn
for grain) and make more than 2.5 times more than farmers who grow corn
for grain. The use of crop residues and agro-industry wastes is growing
fast in Southeast
Asia and as well as those already mentioned include spent grains and sugarcane
bagasse. In Malaysia and Thailand small (plastic)
bag technology for silage making is now well established (using a vacuum
pump to extract the air, which can be as simple as a bicycle pump or
old vacuum cleaner) although problems encountered include the difficulty
of locating suitable plastic material and rats gnawing at the bags.
In Malaysia Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) has largely replaced imported concentrates
as the major ingredient in local compound feeds (Chin Fook
Yuen, Malaysia). PKC is locally available and its use has
considerably increased profitability; it can be used as a sole feed
or in combination with a range of other by-products (sometimes as many
as 15 or 16 are combined). With some 5.2M ha of oil palm in Southeast Asia there is considerable potential. It was
noted that a large proportion of PKC from Malaysia is exported to Europe for the livestock feed industry.
Session
6:
Range/ranching systems – two main papers and one poster paper. David
Kaligis (Indonesia) highlighted the problems with
improving and renovating large areas of Imperata
grasslands. In spite of many attempts at improvement, using various
strategies, large areas remain. It was concluded that livestock have
an important role to play in the reclamation of these lands and in particular
in improving the fertility. It was stressed that the area of grazing
land in Philippines (Moog) has declined drastically
(area reduced by 70% since 1970) with land being taken for cropping,
urban areas, industry, by land speculators etc. Likewise the number
of animals in grazing systems has declined, but backyard systems have
increased. This illustrates the intensification of land use; the appropriate
use of land and the longer-term issues were stressed.
For
the mini-workshop on “Forage Development in Southeast Asia: Strategies
and Impacts”, participants were
divided into three groups (Plantation/integrated and industrial systems;
Upland and extensive systems; Lowland and smallholder systems) to address
a number of issues (Previous major focus
areas of (forage) research & development;
adoption rate & impact on economic development/social improvement and environmental sustainability; present constraints and priority areas for future focus; Government/Agriculture and Livestock Ministry
future strategies); each
prepared a PowerPoint presentation and following
discussion the RWG made the following overall recommendations:
- Seek additional internal and external funding for R and D on forage
and other feed resources.
- Enhance technology transfer at all levels of development through
effective training, field days, courses, visits and road shows.
- Improve and promote exchange of supply of good quality seed and planting
materials among member countries.
- Develop cow-calf operations in order to increase breeder and feeder
cattle supply.
- Develop forage and agro by-product based technology packages for
improved management and utilization in livestock production systems.
- Improve networking for greater access to databases on forage and
livestock production in Southeast
Asia.
- Promote environmentally sustainable livestock production systems.
It is hoped that through these proceedings
information will be disseminated throughout the region and be put to
practical use.
It was agreed that
the next meeting of the Group will take place in Malaysia sometime in
the period May to July 2003 with the theme “Forages and Feed Resources
in Commercial Livestock Production Systems” with papers being considered
under five sub-themes (1) Role of native forages, improved pastures
and fodder crops in commercial livestock production (2) Livestock/tree
crop integration/industrial systems (3) Increased utilization of crop
residues and agro-industrial by-products (4) Feed Quality and Safety
Assurance (5) Dairying and Feedlotting.
Our thanks to Prof. David Kaligis
and his team at Sam Ratulangi University and to Mr. Francisco (Frank) Moog for their considerable
efforts in organizing the meeting and ensuring its success.
S.G. Reynolds
Senior Officer
Grassland and Pasture Group
Crop and Grassland Service
Plant Production and Protection Division
FAO, Rome, Italy