Following the conferences held in New Delhi, India in 1992 and Beijing, China in 1996, the 7th International Conference on Goats will be held in Tours, France from 14 to 20 May 2000. Between 600 and 1 000 scientists and representatives from goat production organizations in both industrial and developing countries are expected to parti-cipate at this meeting. The conference will comprise four days of sessions in the town of Tours, and a one-day technical tour in the Poitou-Charentes region, an important area of goat production where satellite symposia will be held.
In addition to the main topics of previous conferences, there will be a
special focus on the transfer of knowledge and technology from research to application and
production organizations. International speakers will present lectures on topics of
general interest. Oral and/or poster contributions for all sessions and round-table
discussions are welcome. Proceedings will be published and distributed during the
conference. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and French.
More detailed information can be obtained from the Organizing Secretariat, 7th
International Conference on Goats (7 ICG), Institut de l'�levage, 149 rue de Bercy,
75595 Paris Cedex 12, France. Fax: 33 1 4004 5280; e-mail: [email protected]
The Royal Veterinary College is planning the following ongoing courses:
M.Sc. Degree in Food Animal Health
The Food Animal Health course is intended to meet the requirements of training at an advanced level for veterinarians and other professionals from both developed or developing countries to keep abreast of changes in the demand for animal protein increases and subsequent updating in management systems to meet these demands. The course provides advanced instruction on the epidemiology, pathogenesis and control of diseases of economic and public health significance in the major food animals.
The formal course is taught from October to June. A variety of methods
are used ranging from lectures to less formal seminars, discussions, demonstrations and
practical classes. The course is open to graduates in veterinary medicine or veterinary
science of the University of London or another approved university, or graduates in animal
sciences from an approved university.
For further information, please contact Mrs C. Brizuela, Boltons Park Farm, Hawkshead
Road, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 1NB, UK; Fax: +44 (0)1707 647085; e-mail: brizuela
@rvc.ac.uk
M.Sc. and Postgraduate Diploma in Livestock Health and Production by distance learning
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in conjunction with the External Programme of the University of London is developing a distance learning course on Livestock Health and Production that will commence in February 1999.The course will provide tuition in relation not only to the major food producing livestock species (cattle, pigs and sheep), but also to goats, rabbits, camelids, poultry, horses and donkeys.
The programme will be of interest to veterinarians and livestock
specialists who would find it difficult to attend a traditional university-based course.
The modules will include subjects such as livestock disease and its control, reproduction
and fertility, production (nutrition, genetics, husbandry) and animal welfare.
Apart from joining the course to gain a postgraduate academic qualification, it is
envisaged that veterinarians and other professionals could take up individual modules as a
form of continuing professional development (CPD) and register as affiliated students of
the RVC. The flexibility of this form of study allows busy professionals to keep up to
date with the rapid expansion and ever increasing knowledge related to the subject without
taking long periods of leave from their post.
For further information, please contact:
For the M.Sc. or Postgraduate Diploma
Livestock Health and Production, Room 1, Senate House, University of London, Malet Street,
London, WC1E 7HU, UK. Tel.: +44 (0)171 636 8000 (Ext. 3150); fax: +44
(0)171 636 5841; e-mail: enquiries@ eisa.lon.ac.uk
For the affiliated (CPD) programme
Course Director, Livestock Health and Production, Royal Veterinary College, Boltons Park
Farm, Hawkshead Road, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1NB, UK. Tel.: +44
(0)1707 666 240; fax: +44 (0)1707 647 085; e-mail: [email protected]
The congress will take place in Montr�al, Canada from 20 to 25 August 2000. It is expected that 4 000 people will attend this very important meeting. The Scientific Program Committee is planning a detailed schedule of symposia for the bulk of the formal programme. This represents a departure from previous congresses, but members of the committee agreed at their first meeting that multidisciplinary approaches are necessary to address the majority of contemporary problems in poultry science and the poultry industry.
Twelve symposia will be offered each day covering the broadest possible
range of topics in poultry science. Invited speakers from around the world will give
presentations on all aspects of egg and poultry production, research developments,
technological innovations, environmental concerns and problems of disease control and
management.
For further information, please contact: Congress and Exhibit Secretariat, c/o Events
International Meeting Planners Inc., 759 Victoria Square, Suite 300, Montr�al, Qu�bec,
Canada H2Y 2J7; Tel.: +1 514 286 0855; fax: +1 514 286 6066;
e-mail: info@event sintl.com; Web site:http://www.wpc2000.org
Organized by the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), this International Dairy Federation Seminar will take place in Saint-Malo, France from 7 to 10 June 1999 and will be conducted in English.
The seminar will attempt to assemble the most recent information on new
applications of the membrane processes that would benefit the dairy processing industry
worldwide. It is intended for dairy professionals interested in all aspects of membrane
processes - researchers, industry practitioners, regulatory personnel, students, engineers
and scientists interested in industrial membrane processes and the development of new
products. The overall objective of the seminar is to highlight new developments, new
knowledge and new actual or proposed practical applications of microfiltration,
ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis for industrial processing of milk,
traditional dairy products, novel dairy ingredients and dairy processing wastes.
Contributions are invited on any subject related to the above seminar objectives.
Presentations will be either in oral form or eventually as posters. For further
information on any aspects of this seminar, please contact: Prof. J.L. Maubois, Dairy
Research Laboratory, INRA, 65 rue de Saint Brieuc, FR-35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
The following training courses will be conducted by IPC Livestock during 1999/2000 at their Institute in Barneveld, the Netherlands. (All prices include full board and lodging, but exclude international travel expenses.)
Short professional training programmes in 1999
International training programmes
In addition, IPC Livestock will custom design study programmes for anyone interested and conduct them either at their Institute in Barneveld or on location.
For further information, please contact: Head, Department of International Studies and Cooperation Programmes, IPC Live-stock, Barneveld College, PO Box 64, 3770 AB Barneveld, the Netherlands. Tel.: +31 342 414881; fax: +31 342 492813; e-mail: [email protected]
Following the recent introduction of the Old World screwworm (OWS) into Iraq, a consultancy was undertaken in 1997 to develop procedures for the production of digital risk maps that would serve as early warning indicators of the likely spread of the parasite both within Iraq itself and to neighbouring countries. Georeferenced data on disease occurrence by species was subjected to a discriminative analysis, with a set of Fourier processed satellite variables as a predictor data set. These variables were selected on the basis of their ability to separate most effectively the different OWS classes.
In the "best fits" to the observed data, OWS in sheep was
described with class accuracies exceeding 72 percent, while cases in cattle were described
with accuracies exceeding 70 percent. The results of the discriminative analysis were then
used to make predictions of OWS risk areas throughout Iraq and its immediate neighbours.
Subsequent expansion of OWS in Iraq has complied very accurately, thus demonstrating the
usefulness of this approach for the prediction of the spread of insect vectors and
parasites as influenced by climatic and vegetational changes.
The information contained in the consultancy report could be useful to epidemiologists and
others concerned in developing early warning systems for vector-borne diseases. For more
information, please contact B.S. Hursey, Senior Officer (Insect-borne diseases), Animal
Production and Health Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome. Fax:
+39 06 57055749; e-mail: brian.hursey@ fao.org
After five years of exhaustive preparation, this important world conference was held from 28 June to 4 July 1998 at the Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea. About 2 000 delegates from almost 100 countries attended from all over the world. The theme chosen for this important event was "Animal Production into the 21st Century for the Quality of Human Life". The main feature of the one-week programme was the presentation of the 210 excellent invited scientific papers. The programme also included three preconference symposia, one special symposium, 11 symposia covering different species and scientific areas, four plenary sessions, eight review sessions and 1 000 contributed papers that were presented at 24 scientific sessions.
FAO played a significant role in this conference, not only by contributing financial assistance, but also by providing sponsorships, convening sessions and presenting papers. The findings of the vast number of subjects covered will provide an interesting and most useful collection of information. The proceedings of the conference may be obtained from the Conference Secretariat, Organizing Committee, 8th WCAP, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Suweon 441-744, Republic of Korea. Tel.: +82 331 292 0896; fax: +82 331 292 3801; e-mail: [email protected]
The Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) provides information and tools for management, teaching and research related to the characterization, sustainable use and conservation of farm animal genetic resources (AnGR). DAD-IS is being developed by FAO, with the assistance of users of the system, as an integral element of the strategic framework for the management of AnGR. It enables ready and low-cost exchange and use of information on AnGR, and facilitates communication within countries and at the regional and global levels.
The second stage of this information system, DAD-IS 2.0, was launched on
a CD-ROM diskette in August 1998 and on the World Wide Web in September 1998. It has
extensive databases, library, research and training tools and many links to related Web
sites. Besides containing more information on the databases and updated tools and
documents compared with its predecessor, DAD-IS 2.0 also has more security measures for
country use. Its very detailed User's Manual provides extensive information on the various
services offered and how to access them.
For more information, please contact: Fax: +39 06 57053927; e-mail:
[email protected]; Web site: http://www.fao.org/dad-is (see also back cover).
The FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, which was established in 1985, was broadened in 1995 to cover all components of agrobiodiversity of relevance to food and agriculture and hence was renamed the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The first component to be introduced was animal genetic resources. Under the umbrella of this commission, the first session of the subsidiary Inter-governmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was held from 8 to 10 September 1998 at FAO headquarters, Rome. This is an intergovernmental mechanism with the objective of facilitating and promoting better management of animal genetic resources at the global, regional and national levels.
The proceedings of this meeting will be available on the Web
(http://www.fao.org/dad-is).
For more information, please contact: Animal Genetic Resources Group, Animal Production
and Health Division, FAO, Rome. Fax: +39 06 57053927; e-mail: [email protected]
The Pacific Islands ANimal Health Information System (PANIS) is the output of a regional technical cooperation project (TCP/RAS/6612) that started almost two years ago as an FAO/South Pacific Commission (SPC) joint venture. Initially, the project comprised seven FAO member countries - Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu - but under SPC auspices it was extended to in-clude all the other 15 Pacific Island countries that are members of SPC.
One of PANIS's main goals is to diminish the effects of the geographical
isolation of Pacific Island countries (PICs). PANIS provides them with tools, such as
computers and information technologies, to access global information and make themselves
known to the international community, as well as enabling them to exchange views and
information regarding animal disease suspicion, diagnosis, control and/or eradication. In
emergency situations it also allows for more direct and faster contact among PICs and
regional and international organizations.
The SPC Regional Animal Health Service was designated as the Regional Animal Health
Information Network Node in this regional animal health information-sharing network. The
installation of more sophisticated Internet capacities at SPC headquarters in New
Caledonia will in turn strengthen the possibilities of the seven PIC members of FAO to
share data and views among themselves. In addition, it will also improve reporting to
their international trading partners through FAO and other international organizations.
For more information about PANIS and the Animal Health Project, please contact Valdir
Welte, Animal Health Officer (Disease Intelligence), Animal Production and Health
Division, FAO, Rome. E-mail: [email protected]; or visit the PANIS Web site:
http://202.0.157.4/PANIS/Default.html
The second Annual Steering Committee Meeting of RADISCON took place in Agadir, Morocco on 29 and 30 March 1998. It was attended by representatives from FAO and IFAD, as well as from the four RADISCON subregions: the Maghreb and Sahel; the Middle East; the Arab Gulf; and the Horn of Africa/others. Two FAO consultants, a representative from the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) and RADISCON National Liaison Officer (NLO) in Morocco attended the meeting as observers. The progress report prepared by the RADISCON Coordinating Unit (RCU) in FAO, Rome and the FAO Regional Office for the Near East (RNE), Cairo was discussed. The Steering Committee members unanimously expressed their adherence to the project concept and their recognition of its high relevance to the development of the livestock sector in the countries and regions concerned.
Training at the country level, using regional expertise as much as
possible, will be completed in the course of 1998 when the ten remaining local training
sessions will be conducted. Activities related to active surveillance of brucellosis will
also be launched during 1998. The importance of the pilot study on sheep pox was
highlighted and the meeting agreed to support the implementation of a related project
being prepared on the subject. The subregional representative of RADISCON for the Maghreb
and Sahel presented strong arguments in favour of an eradication strategy for sheep pox,
based in the long term on slaughter and compensation. A workshop on disease implications
for livestock trade in the Near East with special emphasis on small ruminants was
scheduled to take place in Cairo at the end of October 1998, focusing on peste des petits
ruminants (PPR), rinderpest, Rift Valley fever (RVF) and brucellosis.
The Steering Committee agreed to the mounting of two series of workshop: one to discuss
among NLOs and other senior veterinary staff within each subregion how to establish
minimum database standards; and the other to establish the related policy issues by
discussion among directors of Veterinary Services and/or other decision-makers of the
countries in each subregion.
The first series of workshops on minimum database standards will be organized to discuss
the future organization and management of RADISCON. This will include the adoption of
minimum (harmonized) systems of data collection and data management (databases and data
analysis) through a database workshop possibly involving, in addition to RADISCON NLOs,
the heads of both National Field Services and National Laboratory Services, to review the
various steps followed in passive surveillance activities (collection, trans-mission,
storage and analysis). National data-collecting forms would be reviewed to ensure that
they comply with the minimum recommended standards. This will be followed by a workshop
targeting policy-makers (directors of Veterinary Services) which will provide the
opportunity to discuss and possibly endorse suggestions made during the first series of
workshops.
It was also agreed during the meeting that AOAD should become a full Steering Committee
member.
For more information on RADISCON, please contact Dr Abdelali Benkirane, Animal Health
Officer (Bacteriology), Animal Production and Health Division, FAO, Rome. E-mail:
[email protected]; Web site:
http://www.fao.org/Waicent/FaoInfo/Agricult/AGA/AGAH/ID/Radiscon/Default.htm
The present and historical situation of African swine fever (ASF) in the West African region was reflected in the Technical Meeting held in Lom�, Togo, 3-4 June 1998, in which 13 countries participated.
Cape Verde, Senegal, Cameroon and, probably, the Gambia and
Guinea-Bissau have a long history of ASF infection. Because of the size of the country and
the size of its pig population, Nigeria may also belong to this category in view of
outbreaks in 1973 and in 1997/98. The situation in Liberia remains unclear. Guinea,
Burkina Faso and Ghana continue to be uninfected, as does C�te d'Ivoire since the
epizootic in 1996 which was quickly eliminated.
In the most recently infected countries, the situation in Benin appears to have
stabilized, with the southern half of the country being infected. ASF is apparently
spreading in Togo, presenting a serious threat to Ghana, Burkina Faso and the hitherto
uninfected Atacora Province in Benin. In Cape Verde, pigs are extremely important at the
family level. They contribute to a major extent to household food security and family
income. Losses to ASF are experienced virtually every year, at least on S�o Tiago island
and probably Maio island, where the disease is apparently endemic. There is at present no
effective legislation to control ASF and other epizootic diseases, although adequate draft
legislation exists. Improved ASF control would help to ensure that pig owners will not
suffer heavy periodic losses, and would enable the development of commercial pig farming
where conditions are suitable. However, an eradication campaign is likely to bring more
hardship than relief. In view of the shortage of veterinary staff and infrastructure, a
control strategy based on training farmers in pig management and disease prevention has
the best chance of success.
Training and assisting farmers to improve pig farming systems and to act as an information
network for disease surveillance, early warning and early reaction were identified as
priorities for economical and sustainable ASF management in West Africa. (Extracted from
TCP/CVI/8823 consultancy report of June 1998 by Mary-Louise Penrith, ARC-Onderstepoort
Veterinary Institute, Onderstepoort, South Africa.)
Outbreaks of African swine fever in West Africa
The PAAT Information System is undergoing further development with the assistance of a newly appointed technical officer based in the Animal Production and Health Division of FAO. The project will last two years and aims to integrate data on the tsetse fly, farming systems and economics, environment and animal and human health. When completed, it will comprise a resources inventory, a technical knowledge base and a Geographic Information System (GIS) capability. A new e-mail forum has also been set up to complement PAAT activities and improve information exchange between interested parties. In addition, the existing PAAT Web site will be updated to incorporate all the latest developments of PAAT-IS.
A prototype GIS viewer for East Africa has been built and installed in
FAO headquarters, which includes the ability to identify tsetse control priority areas and
also provide impact prediction tables and maps for user-defined areas. The last eight
years of the Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Information Quarterly (TTIQ) have been captured
electronically and the resultant searchable database, with abstracts, provides the basis
to the knowledge-base component.
For more information on the progress of the PAAT Information System, please contact
[email protected]
This most valuable and informative consultancy report prepared in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia in 1998 could be summarized as follows:
Analysis of disease and socio- economic changes in Upper Didessa Valley
Data on changes in tsetse abundance, trypanosomiasis prevalence, cultivated land, livestock and human population were compared before and after the implementation of the tsetse control in the area. The results show that:
Socio-economic changes that have been observed in tsetse control areas
were by far higher than the changes recorded in the adjacent weredas, which include
land above the natural limit of tsetse.
For more information, please contact B.S. Hursey, Senior Officer (Insect-borne diseases),
Animal Production and Health Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome,
Italy. Fax: +39 06 57055749; e-mail: [email protected]
Genevi�ve Freund, �d. 1997. Institut National de la Recherche
Agronomique, INRA Editions - Route de St-Cyr - F 78026 Versailles Cedex.
200 pages. ISBN 2-7380-0752-X.
Prix: 110 FF.
Cette publication est le r�sultat d'un colloque intitul� �Le lait de ch�vre, un atout pour la sant�, qui a eu lieu le 7 novembre 1996 � Niort (France).
Cet ouvrage permet de faire un �tat des connaissances relatives �
l'int�r�t nutritionnel du lait de ch�vre et de pr�senter les exp�riences dans ce
domaine, de mani�re � pouvoir mieux faire conna�tre ses qualit�s aussi bien au milieu
m�dical qu'au grand public.
La quatri�me partie de l'ouvrage traite des nouvelles valorisations pour une production
�traditionnelle� du lait de ch�vre qui est d'un int�r�t tout particulier pour les
pays en d�veloppement souhaitant mieux exploiter la fili�re caprine.
J.-C.L.
J.F.G. Bunders, B. Haverkort and W. Hiemstra. 1997.
Macmillan Education Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hants RG21 6XS, UK. Copublished with ETC
Netherlands BV, Leusden, the Netherlands.
256 pp. ISBN 0-333-67082 5.
Price: �8.95.
This book examines the application of biotechnology to agricultural development. It begins with a farmer's view, assesses farmer-based as well as science-based biotechnology and then looks at the socio-political context. It covers a range of technologies from the simple to the technologically sophisticated, and from those long established and widely applied by ordinary people to those more recently developed by specialist scientists.
The first part of the book examines rural people's existing
biotechnology practices in the areas of animal health, biopesticides, food processing and
crop genetic resources. Part two focuses on science-based biotechnology research and
assesses the potential of existing technologies and the sociopolitical context of formal
sector research. The book presents a participatory and interactive methodology for the
development of biotechnologies for small-scale farmers in the tropics that builds on the
farmers' knowledge and makes use of the latest scientific insights. The final part
suggests a model for integrating the formal and the informal research and development
systems.
The book presents a well-balanced, factual and well-informed discussion which, without
prejudice or superficial exaggerations, puts a reasoned case, bringing all the differing
points of view together in an integrated approach to biotechnology development.
Bolet�n de la Sociedad Espa�ola para los Recursos Gen�ticos Animales
(SERGA), (1): 1. 1997.
Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de C�rdoba, Departamento de Gen�tica y
Unidad de Etnolog�a, Facultad de Veterinaria.
El Arca no se ha concebido s�lo como una publicaci�n meramente de difusi�n, sino que tambi�n pretende aportar informaci�n de car�cter cient�fico, y con este fin recoger� las contribuciones de investigadores relacionados con la conservaci�n del patrimonio gen�tico animal. La SERGA dispone de un comit� cient�fico compuesto por especialistas de los diferentes �mbitos de la gesti�n de los recursos gen�ticos animales. El Arca es un bolet�n semestral de difusi�n gratuita, sin fines de lucro que se financia con aportes del Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de C�rdoba. Por ello, cualquier informaci�n que en �l aparezca, aunque pueda tener un contenido publicitario, no tiene otra intenci�n que contribuir a enriquecer el conocimiento y la preservaci�n de los recursos gen�ticos animales y no revertir� ning�n beneficio econ�mico para la revista.
La direcci�n del Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de C�rdoba es: Avenida Medina Azahara 9, 14005 C�rdoba, Espa�a. Tel.: (957) 218 742/218 708; fax: (957) 218 666; correo electr�nico: [email protected]
E. Carbajo Garc�a et al. 1997. Real Escuela de Avicultura.
444 p�gs. ISBN: 920978-3-3.
Cr�a de avestruces, em�es y �and�es es un tratado rico de ilustraciones sobre la historia, anatom�a, fisiolog�a, etolog�a, reproducci�n, incubaci�n, manejo, rendimiento en carne, producci�n de piel y plumas, cr�a y explotaci�n de reproductores, alimentaci�n, patolog�a y profilaxis y econom�a de la producci�n de em�es y �andues. Sin embargo, la cr�a de avestruces para carne es a�n menos frecuente que la venta de reproductores. El libro contiene adem�s un conjunto de recetas para el consumo de la carne de estos animales. La variedad de los temas tratados permitir�n al t�cnico y al criador encontrar qualquiera informaci�n que necesiten. La obra ya ha conocido un gran �xito editorial y en 1997, a�o de su aparici�n, se publicaron dos ediciones.
La direcci�n de la Real Escuela de Avicultura es: Plana del Para�so 14, 08350 Arenys de Mar, Barcelona, Espa�a. Tel.: (93) 792 1137; fax: (93) 792 1537; correo elctr�nico: [email protected]; sitio Web: www.avicultura.com