FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PAPER 86 Feeding dairy cows in the tropics CONTENTS

Proceedings of the FAO Expert Consultation
held in Bangkok, Thailand
7–11 July 1989

Edited by
Andrew Speedy
and René Sansoucy

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M-26
ISBN 92-5-103029-4

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CONTENTS

^(*) These authors were unable to participate in the meeting.However their paper is included as a valuable contribution tothese proceedings.

INTRODUCTION

The FAO Expert Consultation on Feeding Dairy Cows in the Tropics was held in Thailand in the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, from 3 to 7 July 1989.

Recent FAO statistics show that, while milking the same number of cows (about 110 million head) the developing countries (mainly located in the tropical zone) produce only 22 % of the whole fresh milk equivalent produced by the developed countries and 18 % of the total world production (461.5 million t). In addition, milk production in Asia and to a lesser extent in Africa was reduced from 1986 to 1987 due to drought and the policy measures taken by some countries. In spite of successful achievements such as “Operation Flood” in India, many failures have also been observed in the past.

The problems encountered in stimulating milk production in developing countries are very complex. As in other agricultural development operations many difficulties such as pricing, marketing, etc are beyond the control of the producer. However, technical constraints including nutrition, health and breeding, have still to be, and can be overcome.

Among these constraints the nutrition aspect is probably the first factor limiting milk production. The 1987 Conference of FAO drew attention to the increasing difficulty in providing the bulk of feed requirements for cattle through grazing, crop by-products and to a lesser extent, fodder crops.

Recent advances in the knowledge of ruminant nutrition physiology and in the nutritive value and techniques of utilization of feed resources including unconventional ones e.g. crop residues and agro-industrial by-products, provide scope for overcoming the forecasted feed shortage.

The purpose of this expert consultation therefore was to:

• review the various milk production systems in the tropical areas (humid and dry) according to agro-climatic and technical, economical and sociological conditions including special situations like peri-urban production systems;

• review new knowledge in ruminant digestion nutrition and physiology and consider ways and means of implementing rational feeding systems that could overcome, at the lowest cost, nutritional constraints which hamper milk production and herd productivity in the various prevailing systems;

• match milk production (specialized or dual purpose) systems to available and potential feed resources, taking into account their nutritional characteristics, and considering both subsistence and commercial systems;

• make recommendations for the development of sustainable milk production systems based on locally available feed resources

The opening speech was delivered by Mr. Vitoon Kamnirdpeth, Director General of the Department of Livestock Development, on behalf of the Royal Government of Thailand. First of all he expressed his government's appreciation to FAO for organizing this Expert Consultation in Thailand, and welcomed all the participants. He briefly reminded the Experts of the milk production history in Thailand which started only 30 years ago and has developed rapidly during the last ten years. Although milk production is increasing, milk consumption per caput is still low and the Government is trying to encourage the Thai population to consume more milk and milk products. He pointed out that the main problems that the dairy farmers encounter in Thailand are similar to those encountered in other tropical developing countries, particularly those concerning animal feeding but also breeding, health, etc…. This Expert Consultation will deal with the feeding of dairy cattle. It should be a good opportunity within this context to help increase milk production in tropical developing countries.

The welcome address was given by Mr. S.S. Puri, Assistant Director-General and FAO Representative for Asia and the Pacific. He first pointed out that the Expert Consultation would not only deal with dairy cows but also with buffaloes which are very important in Asia, especially in India where they are more numerous than cows. He mentioned that in Asia human diet is mainly dependent on rice/cereals which implies an unbalanced diet. Thus, in terms of non-cereal food diet, there is a need for increasing milk and meat production and availability. About 40 % of the number of cows in the world are in Asia, but they are only responsible for about 7 % of the world milk production. The productivity of the animals is low and did not follow the rapid increase of cereal yield in the last 20 years. For these reasons, diets are still deficient in good quality proteins and particularly those from milk and milk products. He also pointed out that in the tropical areas, there is very little land still available for pastures. For example, in India 96 % of the usable land is already cultivated. There is a need to increase feed in quantity and quality for milk production. Therefore this Expert Consultation on feeding is of great importance.

Technical secretaries were R. Sansoucy and P. Hassoun

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS