Animal husbandry and livestock production has been traditionally practiced in most parts of Iraq and provided animal products to a large segment of the population for generations. Prior to the sanctions, livestock production comprised 30-40 percent of the total value of agricultural production and contributed heavily to household nutritional requirements. The sub-sector has, however, suffered greatly during the sanctions period, with sharp decline in both productivity and production. The livestock sub-sector is estimated to provide only 2g of domestically produced animal protein per capita per day as opposed to 18g pre-sanctions. The minimum recommended daily per capita requirement according to the WHO is 55g. As a corrective measure to the poor state of livestock production, the current practice of the GOI is to encourage local production of animal protein in order to maximize availability, reduce domestic prices and increase affordability to the majority of the population.
Livestock production in Iraq mainly includes cattle, sheep and goats. Buffalo and camel rearing are carried out at a limited scale. Approximately 85 percent of the cattle population in the country are indigenous breeds with rather low milk yields per lactation. The rest are crosses of exotic breeds. The local cattle breeds are Sharabie and Junobie. Attempts to improve the local breeding stock through artificial insemination (AI) have been put in abeyance since the sanctions. Oil-for-Food Programme's basic AI equipment were, however, imported recently to enhance the capacity of the Central AI Centre in Baghdad as initial steps to reactivate the cattle breeding programme. In addition, milking machines, portable milking units and milk containers for dairy stations and small/medium have been also farms were provided. The country also plans to import fresh stocks of exotic breeding heifers and bulls under the Oil-for-Food Programme as well as other inputs for the rehabilitation of dairy cattle stations. Sheep production involves the local breeds Awasie, Hamdany and Karadie with marked seasonal transhumance on established routes.
Ruminant (cattle, sheep and goat) production has also been severely constrained by three consecutive drought years (1998-2000) and a widespread outbreak of foot and mouth disease that occurred in 1998. The drought is recorded as the most serious since the 1930s.
Inputs for the livestock sub-sector, under the Oil-for-Food Programme, started arriving in the country in Phase IV of the Programme. However, the inputs have been mainly limited to vaccines, pharmaceuticals, poultry production items (equipment, day-old chicks, hatching eggs, etc.), simple artificial insemination (AI) instruments and cold chain inputs. The trend of procurement falls in line with the main theme of the Oil for Food Programme (i.e. an intervention to halt further deterioration of the humanitarian situation). Procurement trends from Phase VIII demonstrate the intention to increase livestock productivity through rehabilitation of the animal health delivery and diagnostic services.
Livestock in Iraq is raised under predominately traditional systems of production, and three types of animal production materialise under existing farming systems can be distinguished. The Dry-land Mixed Farming system is based on rain fed wheat and barley alternated with fallow. Farm income depends almost entirely on the cash sale of wheat and barley, and livestock production is limited by the minimal amounts of animal feed.
The rain fed mixed farming system offers opportunities for more secure cropping than the Dry-land Mixed Farming system, and it supports a wider range of crops. Wheat and barley are grown in rotation with chick peas and lentils, following a long-term fallow. Within this system, small ruminants are important sources of animal protein, normally grazing natural pasture and waste areas on the farm during winter, and supported by crop residues during summer. The livestock are fed supplementary barley grain in late summer when the crop residues are exhausted. This system supports specialised poultry raisers also, but not specialised dairy production units.
The upland pastoral system involves nomadic and sedentary grazing of small ruminants on the rangeland forest and mountain areas. Family income in this system is derived mainly from the sale of meat, milk, wool and wool products. The livestock are fed supplementary barley grain in late summer when the crop residues are exhausted. Animal nutrition in this system is generally poor, the areas are often overgrazed and the performance parameters of these livestock may be low. There is considerable variation in the quality of native pastures as well as the extent of the land degradation.
The General Directorate of Veterinary Board (GDVB) at the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for all aspects of animal health and it regulates acquisition of requisite vaccines, drugs and equipment, as well as the means for field transport and cold chain. Previous stringent animal health activities included regular vaccination programmes for serious endemic diseases, campaigns for drenching, dipping and spraying livestock against external parasites and zoonoses control. Budgetary constraints under the Oil-for-Food programme have curtailed most of the disease control activities of the animal health sub-sector resulting in sporadic outbreaks of a number of viral, bacterial, parasitic and tick-borne diseases. Both brucellosis and tuberculosis, which were previously under control, have recently become more widespread with brucellosis currently having a 10% prevalence rate in small ruminants. Recent controllable disease outbreaks in the country included old-world screwworm (OWS) in 1996, foot and mouth disease (FMD) in 1998 and high incidence of theileriosis in 1999. A threat of Rift Valley fever outbreak currently exists due to the reported epidemic of the disease in Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia at the end of 2001. Disease outbreaks not only reduce livestock production but also pose the threat of regional spread. In addition, high prevalence rates of zoonoses or zoonotic disease outbreaks are a threat to human health.
Iraq has a governorate veterinary hospital in each of the 15 Centre/South Governorates and 228 district veterinary clinics. The clinics are supplied by the governorate hospitals while the hospitals obtain their supplies from the central warehouses in Baghdad. Diagnostic services are also organised in a similar manner. The Central Laboratories in Baghdad serve the Governorate Laboratories, administered by the governorate hospitals, which in turn serve the district clinics with their diagnostic needs.
Under the current situation, GOI disease control strategy is geared towards maximum use of the limited financial resources by targeting key priority areas. The existing main extant disease control programmes include:
FMD control in cattle, sheep and goats that started under Oil-for-Food Programme in June 1999 and is expected to continue for three years since inception;
routine vaccination for cattle, sheep and goats against PPR, brucellosis, haemorrhagic septicemia, sheep pox and enterotoxemia;
OWS surveillance and control project;
vaccination of chicken, under the Oil-for-Food Programme Poultry Revival Programme, against major diseases;
livestock brucellosis and tuberculosis surveillannce; and
vaccination of sheep and goats against brucellosis.
To respond to the nutritional needs of the country, the GOI established a functional poultry industry during the 1970s and 1980s comprising modern poultry farms for the production of table eggs and broiler meat, stock farms, hatcheries and poultry slaughterhouses. Regular supplies of necessary production inputs and provision of required poultry health services was assured. By 1989, a total of 8 000 poultry farms were operational in the country and were estimated to produce 1 700 million table eggs and 250 000 tones of poultry meat. Since 1991, there was considerable deterioration in production in the poultry industry to a state of near collapse. To address the deficiency of animal protein in the food basket, the UN Secretary General (SG) in his supplementary report of 1998, recommended enhanced domestic production of readily available animal protein by reactivation of the poultry industry through a revival programme. This resulted in the Poultry Revival Programme (PRP) which is funded by the GOI and Oil-for-Food Programme.
Under the PRP, both table egg and broiler meat production facilities are reactivated through supply of required equipment and other inputs including feed, vaccines, drugs, breeding stock and hatching eggs. Poultry facilities benefiting from the PRP are parent stock farms, hatching egg farms, hatcheries, layer/broiler farms and slaughterhouses. The beneficiary poultry facilities are selected based on criteria derived from the feasibility study of the PRP.
The initial impact of the PRP is already visible with a marked reduction in the market prices for poultry products in the country and stabilisation of red meat market prices. The enhanced poultry programme continues to build upon these achievements. An assessment of the PRP, conducted jointly by the GOI and the UN in May 2000, showed remarkable progressive improvement of the poultry industry since inception of the programme in 1998.
The ruminant population of the three northern Governorates of Iraq has shown sustained growth over the last fifteen years. Variations in the published data on livestock numbers reflect the inward and outward movement of livestock due to drought seasons and the seasonal nature of the vaccination campaigns. The massive inward migration of livestock during the 1998/99 drought, the retention in the north of a significant number of sheep, goats and cattle coupled with the late winter rains of 1999/00 has impeded the recovery of the northern governorate rangeland and placed the feed resource under pressure.
No official data are available on the composition of the regional herd by breed. It is estimated that there are no more than 1000 purebred Friesian cattle in the area. While local breeds predominate, there are a significant number of crossbred cattle. The presence of "dual purpose breeds" is more prevalent in the Rain fed Mixed System, in the so called "secure crop" system areas located mainly on flat lands at medium altitude with 500-900 mm of rainfall.
The main local breeds of cattle are Karadi and Sharabi, which produce between one and five litres of milk per day for a lactation length of 150 days. They calve in December and are fed supplementary feed until they can graze spring growth in March. They are then grazed on natural pasture and crop stubble. Women milk the cows and they process milk into yoghurt or cheese, which is consumed by their families or sold. Surplus stock are sold at two years and aged cows at the end of their productive life. Two calves in three years are normal.
The local breeds predominate in the North, but there are numbers of crossbred cattle and some purebred Friesians around the main cities producing milk. The milk yield of purebred Friesians cows is higher than crossbreds i.e. up to an average of 12 to 15 litres of milk per day. In order to achieve this level of milk production cows are fed a production ration of 30 percent wheat bran, 45 percent grain (normally barley), 15 percent cotton seed cake and 10 percent salt and other additives as required. This mix is fed at 0.5 kg per litre milk produced during the spring early summer increasing to 1 kg feed per litre of milk produced over the winter period November - February. Green feed may include cereal green feed, vegetable aftermath, Lucerne (May to September) and crop stubble.
The Government of Iraq implemented an extensive Artificial Insemination (AI) programme throughout the country until 1992 when the central government withdraw following local unrest. This resulted in the collapse of the cattle-breeding programme in the North.
Sheep and goats are concentrated more in the Dry Land Mixed Farming System "non secure crop" areas' (300-500 mm rainfall) and also on the mountainous area, as a part of an Upland Pastoral System. In this Upland pastoral system, mainly combined herds of sheep and goats are found, and the pre-eminence of one or other specie will depend of the dryer and higher of the area. Goats tend to be more popular in drier and higher mountainous areas.
Notwithstanding some area differences in milk production, potential for milk in the North generally is almost entirely dependent on the availability of fodder and whether supplementary feeding is practised, rather than the milking potential of the cattle themselves. Such production is highly seasonal, and in the case of cattle, lasts on average no more than four to five months in spring and declines from June onwards. In general, the limited milk production of unimproved native cattle is consumed almost entirely on farm and there is little milk surplus for sale from this source.
There is some dairy production around the cities of Erbil and Suleimaniyah based on several milk producing herds with cows of more than 60% of Friesian or Jersey blood. These animals are adequately fed for most of the year, milked three times daily and bred with AI. Production can be as high as 20-25 litres per day for nine month lactation's, although average production may be closer to 10 - 15 litres per day over lactation's of between seven and nine months. Cattle raised this well are thought to number no more than one to two thousand head and they are confined to the margins of these two cities.
There is a strong tradition of consuming dairy products in northern Iraq. Most families regularly buy dairy products, the most popular being yoghurt, fermented milk and cheese (mainly white or cottage cheeses), often made from a mixture of sheep, goat and / or cow milk. Sheep milk on its own is a highly appreciated product in the area.
The off-take levels of large and small ruminants have been relatively low in the past as, due to government efforts of rebuilding animal stocks, the slaughtering of young animals and female animals was prohibited. Regulations are in place not allowing the slaughter of female cattle before the age of seven years and female sheep and goats before the age of five years. The minimum live weights for male slaughter animals are set to 120 kg for cattle, 20 kg for sheep and 16 kg for goats. Due the ongoing restocking, the yearly increase in livestock production is estimated at 7.5%. This increase will considerably raise the off-take levels of livestock. The percentage of off-take can be estimated in the range of 30-40% for sheep/goats and 15-20% for cattle.
Small scale poultry keeping is well integrated into the traditional farming systems in most villages and women (mainly) raise chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese in small numbers under free range conditions, without cultural constraints. Almost half of rural women are involved in poultry production. Village poultry production remains a significant rural activity, although though FAO estimated poultry in the North at ten million birds in 1997[6], down one third on 1988 numbers. The village statistics survey of 2000 estimated chicken numbers at just over 2.5 million. The system is entirely low input and non-commercial. The birds are given night shelter and household food scraps. Turnaround between consumption and replacement is quick. They are mostly eaten on farm, although eggs are sometimes sold. Little is known about individual holdings or the productivity and economics of this production system.
Ruminant production data. Useful information on ruminant numbers, locations and the seasonal movement of ruminants between the North and the Central & South is scarce. There are no data on ruminant populations with respect to the locations and concentrations of dairy types and the sources of large and small ruminants for slaughter. There are also no official data on composition of regional herd by breed. This prevents any measures being taken to balance livestock numbers with feed resources or to effectively plan and deliver support services to ruminant production.
At the producer level, farmers lack ready access to the prices and demand for livestock, red and white meats and dairy products, in order to time their off take and maximise returns. Planning for the sector is also constrained by the lack of information on the extent to which market factors may be limiting production.
Animal feed. The shortage of animal feed is one of the major constraints to ruminant production and affects all other aspects. The availability of animal feed is constrained by seasonal droughts, which affect both the rangelands and the availability of agricultural by-products. Due to the droughts and the influx of animals of animals from other areas in Iraq, the rangeland is unable to behave as a dynamic resource by adjusting appropriately.
Milk collection, processing and marketing. The dairy products in the food basket act as a strong disincentive to local milk production, and the low milk price caused by the food basket prevent households from establishing small-scale dairy enterprises.
The seasonality of milk production makes year-round milk collection and processing difficult. The condition of roads is not very good and an effective milk collection system is lacking. Apart from the two planned dairy factories under Oil-for-Food Programme, there are no other milk processing plants. No efforts have been made to improve village milk processing techniques, and no training has been carried out.
There are several reports of poor hygiene at milk handling, at producer, processor and marketing level.
Animal breeding. The lack of data on ruminant breeds and the absence of selection and breeding strategies prevent the effective planning of ruminant production in the area. Although artificial insemination activities have been a major part of the Oil-for-Food Programme so far, artificial insemination parameters can be improved. There has never been an in-depth analysis of the AI activities to find the reasons behind these meagre results. FAO in Erbil reports the main programme constraint to be one of difficulty in keeping the inseminator motorcycles operational.
There are no specific selection criteria determining which cows are inseminated and inseminations are conducted regardless of the ability of livestock raisers to feed and manage their animals. There are no data available on the survival of these calves as potential milk producers as none are yet old enough to be evaluated, nor is there enough data available for determining the total investment and recurrent cost of the programme thus far. It is therefore impossible to establish the cost-effectiveness of this programme.
Poultry production data. Useful information on poultry numbers, species, and breed is scarce, especially at village level. There is limited data on geese, ducks and turkeys.
Sustainability of poultry production. Sustainability is an issue for the poultry production activities carried out under Oil-for-Food Programme. The activities rely entirely on importation of all inputs except grains. Sustainability is further threatened by the resistance of the local authorities regarding cost recovery of input subsidies. For the small-scale sector, there are concerns regarding access to inputs, and the ability of households to provide adequate feed for 35 laying birds daily.
Marketing of poultry products. Local distortions caused by the effect of Oil-for-Food Programme on the pricing of poultry products prevent households from establishing small scale poultry enterprises. The lowering effect of the feed subsidy on the input costs of commercial poultry producers may also prevent potential small-scale poultry producers from entering the market.
Sustainability of animal health support services. The important challenge for the animal health programme would seem to be to develop more efficient and sustainable animal health support services. This would require removal of general subsidies and development of a pay-for-service system. An implementing policy differentiating clearly between services classified as "public goods" and those as "private goods" would be needed to ensure sustainability. Services of public goods dimension could be delivered free of charge or at limited cost but a "user-pays" system need to be progressively developed for private goods and services.
Relationship between DSV clinics and private sector clinics need to be regulated to coordinate action particularly on pricing policy and areas of expertise.
The sustainability of the veterinary programme would also require increase in the capacity of LAs to monitor and regulate animal health services and meet requirements for reporting, surveillance and control of animal diseases.
Co-ordination of disease control strategies in central/south and northern Governorates. Iraq cannot be subdivided for the purpose of control of transboundary animal diseases. It is essential that there be co-ordination of disease control activities between Central/south and northern Governorates.
Quality control of vaccines, drugs and concentrated animal feed. Experience from previous phases of the Oil-for-Food Programme in term of input delivery has emerged majors problems associated with the quality of vaccines, drugs and concentrated animal feed. Vaccine quality is adversely affected by timeliness of transportation and temperature control in transit. The quality of drugs and feedstuffs on occasions also seem not to compare favourably with their specifications at origin. Added to this infrastructures to carry out a proper quality control of inputs for livestock sector are lacking.
Research and extension. The fact that agriculture research in the country has almost ceased since the sanctions, the lack of an extension and training strategy, and the lack of qualified manpower in the extension services all constrain the short and medium term rehabilitation of the ruminant sector.
Other support services. There are no sources of formal credit nor are there any useful linkages whereby institutions and operatives in irrigation, crops and rangeland development with which a multidisciplinary approach to improved livestock production might be developed. The Local Authority has too few trained human resources for animal health, laboratory diagnostic support, rangeland management and animal production among others, and the other agricultural sub-sectors are similarly constrained.
There are opportunities in some areas of the present crop-based rain-fed farming systems for improving livestock performance and the output of milk, meat and wool/fibre. In view of the strong market demand and the hedge it represents against agricultural risk, livestock is attractive to most farmers, offering them some measure of household security. Households may be able to undertake livestock enterprises such as short term lamb fattening, poultry production for nutritional support rather than cash and in some areas; households may have prospects for generating cash from small-scale investment in dairying. For this, most households need access to capital and production inputs.
Incomes may have declined since the sanctions, but considerable demand for livestock products remains. The demand is in the cities and some agro-industrial production capacity will be needed as dairy processing plants and abattoirs in the red meat, and poultry sectors is needed to supply this market. This has been addressed to some extent through interventions in dairy processing and abattoirs under the Oil-for-Food Programme, although these facilities (dairy processing plants and the two abattoirs proposed) will need fine tuning, and they will need to be coordinated with the main production areas to become fully operational.
Of considerable importance for sustainability in the interim, is the arrangement whereby FAO rather than the local authority, plans and implements the programme for the sector. This institutional vacuum also argues strongly in favour of farmer associations and farmers' cooperatives as non-government alternatives for supporting livestock production.
Dairy production. There is a long and strong tradition for milk production in the North and there is a regular and high consumption of dairy products. The seasonality of milk production and the effect the imported milk powder has on prices are both constraints and opportunities. Subject to organisation and the milk volumes actually produced, opportunities exist for collecting and storing the seasonal milk surplus as powder for reconstitution and sale as yoghurt in the lean season. This may offer support for higher prices during the season of high milk production. Opportunities almost certainly exists for milk powder imported in the nutritional basket to be processed as yoghurt to assist in maintaining year-round processing activity and higher, more stable year-round pricing. There is also a strong argument for using local milk to substitute for the imported powder, so as to increase local fresh milk demand and producer prices.
The areas around the dairy factories, which are being set up at present, provide an opportunity for dairy development. Milk Producer Groups (MPGs) could be developed in the dairy areas to introduce dairy production initiatives specifically for these areas and to achieve collection economies of scale. MPGs would enable dairy support services to be more efficiently.
Opportunities exist to develop small scale village milk processing to improve income levels in areas with poor market access. The development of small scale milk processing techniques, the introduction of the Lactoperoxidase System of Milk Preservation, training activities, providing financial support, the establishment of milk producer groups, the integration of crop / livestock systems for ruminant feeding will all support small scale milk collection and processing.
Animal feeding. Only 60 000 hectares of the 200 000 hectares of formerly irrigated or irrigable land is under irrigation. Rehabilitation of the remaining irrigable area presents an opportunity for expanding ruminant production in the North, provided feed to support ruminant production can be grown, and market access to a cash economy can be established through milk collection and processing.
Any increase in crop production to support livestock can come only come from increasing unit-area production, as all land suitable for agriculture is taken. These will not offer a significant increase in livestock feed grains whose increasing availability will come only by through more rain-fed crop production based on improved varieties, increased fertiliser application and more effective use of fallow ground
Poultry production. The small scale poultry production sector provides an important opportunity for food security and income generation for vulnerable groups.
For these small holders, providing a smaller number of hardier, dual purpose breed chickens (i.e. the Fayoumi), which are better adapted to backyard conditions and more forgiving of feed constraints, may be more appropriate. While such dual purpose birds may produce less in theory, they are more likely to sustain at village level over the longer term, than the type and number of chickens distributed or being proposed for distribution in an expanded programme. Investigation could be made to Goose Production Systems, largely developed since the embargo, and a species with a lot of potential for small holders.
The purpose of the subsidy on poultry feed is to improve the local consumption of poultry products generally, although the extent to which the subsidy has led to more of these products being consumed in the North is not known. This knowledge would permit an appropriate policy to be implemented with respect to subsidised inputs. If the subsidy is to continue, it must be distributed to farmers, processors and consumers equitably, and it must also be ensured that poultry products are made available at affordable prices to those segments of the population who are most vulnerable and in greatest need of support. In particular, if the subsidy continues, intending small-scale poultry producers must have access to the subsidised feed, at least equal to the access enjoyed by the larger commercial operators.
The commercial poultry sector is well developed now and appears to need little by way of further material assistance.
Veterinary services. The animal health programme in northern Governorates has focused on rehabilitation of veterinary centres and provision of veterinary mobile clinics to ensure delivery of animal health services. There are now 45 veterinary centres fully equipped and staffed and some of them are supported by veterinary clinics. It is now essential to make better use of these infrastructures to deliver effective clinical services to local livestock owners, carry out vaccination and deworming campaigns and actively participate in disease surveillance and epidemiological studies for proper planning of disease control strategies. A prompt assessment, however, would be required to ascertain and identify the most effective centres taking into account livestock distribution and farmer populations.
Rehabilitation of three existing veterinary laboratories and strengthening their technical capacity has also been a priority of the programme and will continue throughout the 3 year planning. Full integration of these laboratories with veterinary centres would be an opportunity to strengthen disease surveillance and improve disease control. The presence of 2 recently established veterinary schools in Dohuk and Suleimaniyah may be considered beneficial for the future actions within the 3 year programme particularly with regard to training and specific studies. There appears to be a close working relationship between these schools and the veterinary laboratories in these two Governorates.
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[6] These numbers may include
commercial poultry. |
