A.B. Lwoga
Chairman of PANESA's Working Committee and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Tanzania Forage Resources Network
On behalf of the PANESA Working Committee, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Tanzania Forage Resources Network and on my own behalf, I should like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome you all to this ceremony which marks the beginning of the PANESA Workshop and Annual General Meeting for the year 1987. As a Tanzanian citizen, it is my great pleasure and privilege to welcome all the foreign workshop participants to Tanzania, and to Arusha in particular. I am not a resident of this part of Tanzania, but I know that Arusha town is very famous for its hospitality and, also, that the surrounding countryside boasts of some of the rarest and most wonderful game sanctuaries in the world. You are, therefore, most welcome to utilise this opportunity, over and above the workshop business, to learn a bit about Tanzania by exploring Arusha and the surrounding countryside.
A word of special welcome is due to our Guest of Honour today, the Honourable Sumaiye, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development. I am most delighted that he has been able to accommodate this event in his very busy schedule of activities, and also that he has been able to come, to officiate at this ceremony. I should, therefore, like to place on record my deep appreciation to the Deputy Minister for the honour he has accorded us by agreeing to perform this important function in the history of PANESA.
Mr. Guest of Honour, it is pertinent on this occasion to take a brief look at PANESA's origin and tasks. The Pasture Network for Eastern and Southern Africa has its roots in a workshop which was held at Harare in Zimbabwe in September, 1984 and attended by pasture and livestock experts from eleven eastern and southern African countries. Having realised that inadequate nutrition was the single most important constraint to livestock production in the countries represented, the workshop resolved to form a network which would strive to find solutions to the problems affecting pasture production and, consequently, the livestock industry in the Eastern and southern African region. PANESA was launched in November 1984 with the overall aim of improving the effectiveness of pasture research in participating countries and expediting the application of improved technology by farmers and graziers at all levels of management.
What is the nature of the problems that PANESA has committed itself to solve? A glance at the past and present performance of the ruminant livestock industry in eastern and southern Africa throws some light on the urgency and immensity of PANESA's tasks. Eastern and southern Africa as a region holds nearly 86 million head of cattle or 51$ of the total cattle population on the African continent. The region, however, produces a mere 38% of Africa's bovine meat and only 33% of Africa's cow milk. The annual herd offtake is estimated to be 10%, representing about 143 kg of slaughter weight per head, compared with an offtake of 34% and a slaughter weight of 218 kg per head for the developed countries. The average milk yield is estimated at 425 kg per year per cow, compared with 3,217 kg per year per cow in developed countries. Overall livestock production is so low that it hardly meets the human requirements for livestock products in the region. One consequence of this situation has been an increase in imports of livestock and livestock products over the years.
We in PANESA believe that inadequate nutrition for the animals is one of the main factors accounting for the low productivity of livestock in the region. The animals subsist largely on natural pastures whose vegetation is not only scanty, but also of low quality. In the eastern and southern African region, natural pastures occupy 34% of the total land area while cultivated pastures occupy a mere 6%. In the developed countries corresponding proportions are 23% for natural pastures and 12% for cultivated pastures. The tasks of PANESA, urgent and immense as they are, involve removing the nutrition bottleneck through the generation and/or adaptation and application of appropriate technology.
Mr. Guest of Honour, since its formation in November 1984, PANESA has carried out the following activities in pursuit of its objectives:
1. It has started a newsletter, the "PANESA Newsletter", which is a medium for the exchange of ideas and experiences among all those interested in pasture and livestock research and development.2. It organised a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya in November, 1985 on the theme "Feed Resources for Small Scale Livestock
Producers".3. It organised a training course for young early career scientists and pasture technicians in "Forage Plant Introduction and Initial Evaluation" in Ethiopia in October, 1986.
4. It has started a collaborative pasture introduction and evaluation programme in which national research institutes participate -in experiments that are coordinated on a regional or sub-regional basis.
Mr. Guest of Honour, the workshop you will be opening in due course is yet another milestone in PANESA's efforts in the long march towards its objectives. The theme of the workshop, which arose from the Nairobi workshop in November, 1985, consists of three topics, namely:
1. African forage plant genetic resources. This aims at taking an inventory of important forage plant genetic resources in the region.2. Germplasm evaluation. This seeks to take stock of national research efforts in forage germplasm evaluation in the region.
3. Extensive livestock production. This aims at reviewing the state of the art in the diverse extensive livestock production systems in the region with the objective of identifying common problems and generating strategies to improve the productivity of the systems.
The workshop has drawn more than 60 participants from 14 member countries, namely: Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the host, Tanzania. The workshop has also drawn participants from a number of international research agencies including the International Development Research Centre (Canada) and the International Livestock Centre for Africa (based in Addis Ababa).
Mr. Guest of Honour, this workshop would not have materialised and, indeed, PANESA would not have come into being in 1984 had it not been for the generous financial, technical and logistical support of international research agencies sympathetic to the cause of PANESA. The International Development Research Centre organised and financed the Harare Workshop in 1984 and further financed PANESA's first budget, whose activities include this workshop. The International Livestock Centre for Africa has provided the headquarters as well as back-up facilities and services for PANESA.
I take this opportunity of paying tribute to the fundamental and far-reaching role these two organisations have been playing in establishing PANESA and, thereby, helping to build up national capabilities in pasture and livestock research and development in PANESA member countries. I wish to express my sincere hope that their commitment will endure, and also that other international agencies will join hands with PANESA in improving livestock productivity through better livestock nutrition in Eastern and southern Africa.
Mr. Guest of Honour, it is with greater pleasure, honour and privilege that I now invite you to officially open this workshop.
