imgoats India National Advisory Committee Report of the first meeting

INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ILRI) imgoats India National Advisory Committee Report of the first meeting New Delhi, India 17 th August 2011 Small ruminant value chains to reduce poverty and increase food security in India and Mozambique

A report of the first imgoats India National Advisory Committee meeting 1. Background The goal of the Small ruminant value chains as platforms for reducing poverty and increasing food security in dryland areas of India and Mozambique (imgoats) project is to increase incomes and food security in a sustainable manner by enhancing pro poor small ruminant value chains in India and Mozambique. The project proposes to transform goat production and marketing from the current ad hoc, risky, informal activity to a sound and profitable enterprise and model that taps into a growing market, largely controlled by and benefiting women and other disadvantaged and vulnerable groups; while preserving the natural resource base. The specific objectives of the project are two: (a) to pilot sustainable and replicable organizational and technical models to strengthen goat value chains in India and Mozambique that increase incomes, reduce vulnerability and enhance welfare amongst marginalized groups, including women; and (b) to document, communicate and promote appropriate evidence based model(s) for sustainable, pro poor goat value chains. In addition to goat keepers, beneficiaries will include other goat value chain actors, including small scale traders, input and service providers. The project is following innovation systems approaches within a value chain framework. The value chain models will be implemented through the mechanisms of innovation platforms and producer hubs, which will be comprised of multiple and diverse stakeholders. Using an appropriate and focused Monitoring and Evaluation framework, the project will document the participatory approaches used, processes followed, outcomes generated and lessons learned to generate research evidence towards the development of goat value chain models that benefit the poor. Lessons learned and opportunities for scaling up and out will be communicated to policymakers and development practitioners. The project is being implemented by BAIF in Rajasthan and Jharkhand states of India, while the overall leadership and co ordination of the project is done by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The project proposed establishment of an advisory committee at the national level in each of the project countries comprising of potential champions of the project representing key organizations/agencies who have a stake in livestock development for poverty alleviation. The committee is expected to provide strategic guidance to the project at critical times; identify key linkages with other organizations/projects involved in similar efforts to share experiences and 2

lessons and; help disseminate/communicate lessons from the project and facilitate scaling up and out. This report provides an account of the first meeting of the imgoats India National Advisory Committee (NAC). 2. Meeting process The first national advisory committee meeting of the imgoats project in India was held on the 17 th of August 2011 from 10 AM to 1 PM in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Animal Husbandry Departments of Governments of India, Rajasthan and Jharkhand; IFAD; South Asia Pro Poor Livestock Policy Program (SAPPLPP), BAIF, and ILRI. Of the attendees, two were women and 13 were men. The list of participants and their contact details are provided in Annex 1. The agenda for the meeting is provided in Annex 2. 2.1 Introduction Iain Wright, ILRI Regional Representative for South Asia welcomed the attendees to the meeting on behalf of ILRI and BAIF. He expressed his gratitude to Dr Nanda for accepting to chair the committee and the meeting. He then provided a brief introduction to ILRI and its Livestock Research for Development (R4D) activities. He emphasized the shifting geographical focus of ILRI s work to include South Asia, particularly India, in the last few years. He briefly highlighted the work ILRI has been engaged in India, particularly in North East India and on Dairy and; the interest and intent to work on small ruminants in India especially in the light of growing demand for small ruminant meat and the opportunity this offers poor goat keepers, while recognizing the large number of challenges. The imgoats project which is funded by IFAD through the EC Incremental contribution to CGIAR offered an opportunity and, a proposal was developed and submitted with BAIF and CARE. He then explained the rationale and need for establishing a National Advisory Committee for the project. There are diverse technical, institutional and policy challenges associated with improving goat value chains in India and beyond. The project, therefore, needs good and strategic advice from and, joint learning with a range of key stakeholders. During the project development it was decided to have an overall project steering committee; but also national steering committees in India and Mozambique to ensure appropriate guidance based on the local situation and interaction with partners that can link the project with other ongoing or upcoming initiatives or projects and, assist with possible scaling out of the project. Dr Hegde and Dr Nanda will represent the Indian Advisory Committee in the imgoats Joint Steering Committee. He explained that the detailed Terms of Reference for and role of the national Advisory committee will be discussed during the course of this meeting. 3

This was followed by introductions of the participants of the meeting. He then handed over to Dr Nanda for chairing the meeting. Dr Nanda highlighted that this was the first meeting of the NAC and will follow the agenda that was drawn up for the meeting. 2.2 Presentation on imgoats project Ranjitha Puskur gave an overview of the project and the approach it proposes to follow. She briefly explained why the project was referred to as imgoats. As the original project title Small ruminant value chains to reduce poverty and increase food security in India and Mozambique was too long for repeated use, it was decided to use imgoats referring to India Mozambique Goats and also Improving Markets for Goats. imgoats Overview_India NAC_ In the discussion that followed the presentation, the following issues were raised: Proposed approach The project is following a non conventional approach and this is highly commendable. It is a significant departure from the way projects have been traditionally designed in offices and then imposed on communities. This project relies on problems articulated by the target groups to design interventions. Given that the approaches are new and the implementing staff are not familiar with them, it is critical to build their capacity to understand and use them effectively while implementing A lot of the terminology used in the project is new and needs to be demystified for R&D practitioners involved Improvement of incomes and livelihoods of the target households is the ultimate objective and this is planned to be achieved through productivity enhancement and better price realization and enhanced value added in the value chains. It should be made clearer how poor people can benefit from this approach. Genetic improvement Site selection for the project should also be linked to genetic erosion as this is a serious problem. There is widespread and indiscriminate breed movement and introduction amongst various parts of the country and this needs to be carefully assessed and measures taken to avoid diluting and degrading the genetic pool. 4

Animal Health Sexually Transmitted diseases are very important in goats, but they are usually ignored leading to low productivity and high mortality. Marketing Goat markets in India are neither buyers markets nor producers markets. They are traders and commission agents markets. Farmers are increasingly dissociating themselves from goat farming and, this is a cause for concern. We have to make it a viable enterprise. Large scale farmers have to lead the way and become role models for small farmers. For example, in Punjab large Dairy Producers Associations have transformed the dairy sector. Projects have to be mindful of the low risk bearing ability of small farmers. It is important that the goat sector remains in the hands of the smallholders and it should not go the way poultry sector did where very large scale commercial players have come to dominate the sector. Collectives of smallholders need to be organized to make this happen. Collective marketing should be promoted so that the bargaining power shifts to producers. Small scale backyard poultry and piggery (as seen in Uttarakhand and North East India) often do not contribute to significant increases in income as they form only a small proportion of the total income. The size of enterprises needs to be at scale where it is viable. It is important to recognize the extent to which a smallholder farmer can participate in the value chain and attain a certain value level. The capacity would be limited and only options like developing local abattoirs could be realistic. The Pradan model of producer companies could be explored, but for small ruminants it might be realistic to only talk about collectivization given the current stage of development. Services provision Provision of veterinary services at the grassroots level is rather poorly organized and we should look for good practices like Pashu Sakhi model in Alwar in Rajasthan for inspiration. Scaling up and out Project needs to demonstrate new ideas and replicate the successful ones. The governments should look out for successful examples and models and try and scale them out in their areas. Exploring opportunities for scaling up and out from the outset is important, so that the success does not remain confined to few pockets. It is important to link with implementing platforms/projects. For example, in the project sites of the Mpower project of IFAD in 6 districts of Western Rajasthan, goat rearing is a very important livelihood options. Same is the case with the Jharkhand Tribal development Project. In these project areas, rearer groups are being formed and, leadership and capacities being established. It would be useful to link with them and capitalize on the opportunities. 5

Cross visits amongst the projects to share good practices would be a very powerful tool to support scaling up and out. IFAD and BAIF teams in Rajasthan and Jharkhand should establish linkages and work towards this. The Mpower project has another 3.5 years duration and we should make use of funds available for such activities and accelerate scaling up and out learning from each other. 2.3 Presentation on project implementation in India progress, learning and challenges Dr NG Hegde gave a brief introduction to BAIF s activities related to goat development. BAIF was hesitant for some time to extend their activities to include goats. However, considering the fact that goats are the main livelihood activity for a majority of the poor and vulnerable households in marginal areas, this was imperative. Though there are strong environmental concerns expressed by a number of agencies, there is almost no alternative to goat farming for these households and they will continue. Therefore it is important to support them and ensure the enterprise does not affect the environment negatively. BAIF started working on goats in Rajasthan, the state with the largest goat population. Funding from Tata in Bankura and Burdwan districts of West Bengal allowed BAIF to test a systematic approach. Organization of goat keeper groups; breed conservation and improvement in line with the state policy; reducing mortality through preventive vaccination against PPR and health care; development of local capacity for service provision through community members who are trained and mentored as field guides; feed supplementation; introduction of weighing scales for marketing; microfinance arrangements to avoid distress sales; working with existing goat keepers rather than introducing more goats into the system to control herd size and be eco friendly were the major elements of the BAIF approach. The interventions resulted in the mortality of goats being reduced to less than 5% from about 50%. Stall feeding needs to be introduced gradually while ensuring viability of the enterprise. Following the success of this, the West Bengal Government invested Rs 30 crores in goat development and this inspired other state governments like Orissa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to do the same. BAIF does not exclude large farmers in the project sites, to take advantage of their being the opinion leaders and ability to test and demonstrate new technologies and be a part of the market, but no financial assistance is provided to them. Dr Avinash Deo then presented the imgoats activities undertaken by BAIF in Rajasthan and Jharkhand, the challenges faced and learning. In the two states, imgoats will work with 5000 households mainly targeting scheduled castes, schedules tribes and women. The progress made to date was presented, which included: Recruitment of staff Site and household selection Goat keeper group formation and entry point activities 6

Selection and training of field guides Identification of buck rearers and buck distribution Outcome mapping workshop for the entire project team (ILRI CARE BAIF) in Udaipur, India in February 2011 Orientation of implementing staff to Innovation Platform and Value Chain Analysis. Development of annual work plan Establishment of the Innovation Platform for goat value chain in Jhadol The value chain constraints identified by the different value chain actors present at the Innovation platform meeting were presented in detail. BAIF_Project progress_nac Meetin This presentation was followed by a lively discussion during which the NAC members gave their views and shared experiences on how to possibly address some of the constraints identified. Following are the highlights of the discussion summarized around major themes: Genetic improvement Bucks that are introduced should be from a distant area to avoid inbreeding. BAIF also introduces the buck rotation system in among the goat keeper groups, to avoid inbreeding. Feed and fodder improvement We have to explore possibilities of using non conventional feed and fodder resources for goats to alleviate the fodder scarcity. Breed conservation is intrinsically tied to stall feeding. We should explore possibilities of introducing nutritious grasses and tress in the project sites. There is an average 57 60% deficit in fodder in the country. Only 4% of the cultivated area is under fodder. We have to explore other options like agricultural wastes and by products. Urea treated rice straw has been tried for goat feeding in some places and has been successful. However, this might not be applicable for Rajasthan as there is no rice straw available. Multinutrient Mineral Blocks and Urea Molasses Blocks are also an option. They cost Rs 20/kg if bought in the market, but cost only Rs 1.5/kg if made at home. Groups of goat keepers can make them. Lean periods for green fodder occur twice a year. Goats relish silage and we have to explore possibilities of developing fodder banks and silage at a small scale. It is also possible to do at a group level. 50 60 kg of silage can be made per gunny/plastic bag and can last about 6 months. This will help sustain weight gain of the goats even during lean periods. 7

Improving quality of common lands is a priority issue while addressing fodder scarcity. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) includes regeneration of pasture lands as one of the areas listed for engagement. We have to explore such other opportunities and programs and see how we can capitalize on them to improve the fodder situation for livestock. There is widespread encroachment of common lands in most states, but states like Rajasthan have been making efforts to remove such encroachments and have set a good example. A number of feed and fodder technologies have been developed over the years. Their relevance to a certain context depends on the farming system, agro ecology, labour availability, seasonality and a number of other factors. ILRI is organizing a workshop shortly to develop a framework and tool to screen/evaluate/select appropriate technologies. Animal Health Goat transmitted Brucellosis due to goats (a bacterial infection primarily in reproductive organs) is often ignored, but a survey revealed that 10 15% of the farmers suffer from this. Awareness of goat keepers and field workers needs to be enhanced about this aspect. Marketing Marketing is the area where most opportunity exists for innovation in the Indian context. The potential for collective action would be very high in Udaipur due to the presence of the Meena and Dang communities which are generally very cohesive. There is not much awareness among goat keepers about fattening practices. A 1 year old goat fattened with 250 gm concentrate/day for 2 months can gain 30% weight. Simple formats should be developed which the farmers can use to record technical performance of the goats and also marketing information. Weighing of goats while selling has to be introduced. There is generally a lot of resistance, but this is useful. It is not always necessary and not easy to have weighing scales while marketing. Using tapes which are portable, cheap, easy to carry and easily available for measuring body girth can also be a simple way of estimating the live weight and, the tapes cost about Rs 100 each. There are emerging models of private goat production companies trading meat in select shops in Maharashtra. Processing and value addition Rajasthan has the largest proportion of goat population in the country and large numbers are transported all the way up to Jammu&Kashmir everyday. However, the live animals lose about 20% of their weight during this long travel and the producers and traders lose substantial amount of benefits. It is therefore very important that local slaughter houses are developed and, meat rather than live animals are transported. There are very few large slaughter houses in the country and they handle only about 30 40% of the meat produced in the country. There would be a policy in about 2 3 years to ban 8

all local slaughter houses. The possibility of setting up mini rural slaughter houses should be systematically assessed. Slaughter houses can potentially be viewed as micro enterprises. Support/subsidy for setting them up from the government and loans from banks would be useful. However, one has to be conscious about the sustainability of such enterprises. The Tribal federation (Trifed) helped set up small, scale pork processing units in the North East, but they were unviable due to the limited volumes and always operated under capacity. So, we need to assess this systematically for goats. Community owned slaughter houses might also be an option. However, we should also anticipate equity and benefit sharing issues if we talk about enterprises owned by groups and communities. While exploring rural slaughter houses as an option, we should not rule out the possibilities of developing low cost and hygienic facilities locally. There is a good example of a slaughter house run by the Khatik samaj in the Dausa Balahedi area where they provide other services like sheds to house animals overnight and water. It is important to develop processing facilities closer to producers. There are innumerable instances of inhumane transport of livestock to markets or for slaughter. There is an opportunity to improve returns from goat rearing through enhancing returns for skins. The Tata International has a skin processing facility with a capacity of 11,000 pieces/day, but due to non availability of those numbers they now import from Africa. A Tata project demonstrated the use of blood for value addition at the Deonar slaughter house. Business Development Services provision The IFAD funded Mpower project in Western Rajasthan is testing models for providing access to microfinance and insurance, using the SHG model. They will shortly commission a study to document lessons from this experience. Government support The local departments of Animal husbandry need to be included constantly throughout these efforts and, projects and governments should not work in isolation. The local veterinary personnel have to be contacted and discussions held with them to develop facilities. The field guides should be able to approach them when in need. A number of national disease eradication programs exist and are being implemented through the state departments. We have to get more information about them and see how we can use them in the project areas. For example, PPR vaccination campaign has been initiated nation wide and the departments have to ensure that sufficient vaccine is available free of cost locally. 38 40% of the goats are slaughtered every year and the new ones need vaccination. 9

Money is also available through government programs for providing water troughs and fabricated feeders. Institutional aspects Institutional issues like Panchayat Raj, Village development Committees, women s institutions and groups in the project areas should be carefully understood and options explored to utilize them effectively. Much infrastructure that is available is also not utilized effectively. Women s empowerment through these efforts has to be the pivotal point. A recent survey by the National Statistical Organization (NSO) in India revealed that 55% of the farmers are aware of new technologies, however only 5.1% are aware of livestock technologies. This calls for innovative methods and strategies to disseminate livestock related knowledge and technologies widely. Monitoring and Learning It is important to identify the indicators for monitoring progress. ILRI should circulate the project monitoring and evaluation framework to the NAC members, so they have a better understanding of what will be tracked. While we need performance based criteria for tracking results and outcomes through the chain of implementation for accountability, it is equally or more important to develop a learning system in the project which allows for reflection and course correction. Cross visits with other projects/initiatives can then be used to communicate such learning and outcomes. We should come up with cost benefit estimates for enterprises to determine the appropriate size in the different contexts and develop a blueprint which can also be used for obtaining loans from banks and availing insurance. It is therefore important to track increases in income which would accrue as a result of following improved practices. Dr Nanda concluded the session by requesting the Directors of the state departments of Animal Husbandry to provide all necessary support to the project in their states and ensure good provision of services and any other requests that might arise from the project. 2.4 Terms of Reference and frequency of meetings Ranjitha Puskur then introduced the suggested terms of reference (TORs) for the National Advisory Committee which were accepted: Strategic advice on progress, performance and impact Discuss and make recommendations on important issues for program success Provide linkages to different government departments and stakeholder groups Support the opportunities for up scaling of the project outputs 10

Advise on communication, dissemination and advocacy strategies Advise project on government policies foresight It was agreed that the committee will meet every six months. It was suggested that the second meeting should be held in one of the project areas to allow interaction with stakeholders. It was decided to hold the second meeting during 10 11 Feb 2012 in Udaipur and Jhadol. The staff of the Project Monitoring unit (PMU) of the Mpower project can also be invited to join to share experiences to strengthen the synergies amongst IFAD loan and grant programs and, demonstrate a good example of how to go about it. This will also provide an opportunity for the imgoats project to scale up and out successful models and move from being a pilot to scale. Potential topics to be discussed, amongst other, during the 2 nd meeting could include: Stamping out diseases Fattening and stall feeding options and viability The 3 rd meeting can be held in Dumka, Jharkhand around October 2012. It was also agreed that the committee will be kept posted of developments in the project regularly through email and other appropriate means in between the meetings and Ranjitha Puskur will be responsible for this. The meeting was closed by Iain Wright thanking all the members for their valuable contribution and fulfilling their excepted roles even before looking at the terms of reference suggested for the committee and, hoped that the same level of enthusiasm and participation will continue in future. 11

Annex 1 List of participants Nr Name Title and Affiliation Email address 1 Dr AS Nanda Animal Husbandry Commissioner, asinghnanda@gmail.com Government of India 2 Dr. Pradeep Saraswat Joint Director, Animal Husbandry pradeepcam@rediffmail.com Department, Rajasthan 3 Dr. (Capt.) A.G. Bandyopadhyay Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Jharkhand 4 Dr Shaheel Rafique Implementation Support officer, s.rafique@ifad.org International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), New Delhi 5 Ms Tinni Sawhney Team Leader, South Asia Pro Poor tinni.sawhney@sapplpp.org Livestock Policy Program, New Delhi 6 Dr NG Hegde Project Leader, imgoats, BAIF, Pune nghegde@baif.org.in 7 Dr Ramesh Rawal BAIF, New Delhi rawal.ramesh@gmail.com 8 Dr Avinash Deo Project co ordinator, imgoats, BAIF, avinashddeo@rediffmail.com Pune 9 Dr. R.S. Sharma CPC, BAIF RRIDMA, Udaipur rssharma.baif@gmail.com 10 Shri BG Rathore Se PC, BAIF, Udaipur baifrathod@gmail.com 11 Shri Navneet Kumar BAIF, Ranchi navneetiirm@gmail.com 12 Dr Dhanvijay BAIF, Orissa baifdhanvijay@gmail.com 13 Dr Iain Wright Regional Representative Asia, ILRI, i.wright@cgiar.org New Delhi 14 Dr Ranjitha Puskur Team Leader, Innovation in Livestock r.puskur@cgiar.org systems, ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 15 Sh. SM Keerthiraj Scientific Officer, ILRI, Jharkhand sm.keerthiraj@gmail.com Apologies: 16 Mr. Sudipta Banerjee 17 Dr Devendra Swarup Tata International Director, Central Institute for Research on Goats, Mathura SudiptaBanerjee@tatainternational.com dswarup@cirg.res.in 12

Annex 2 Agenda ImGoats National Advisory Committee (NAC) Meeting 17th August 2011 Hotel Siddharth, Rajendra Place, New Delhi, India Chair person: Dr AS Nanda, Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Government of India 10.00 10.15 Opening of the meeting and introduction of the attendees Iain Wright 10.15 10.30 Overview of the imgoats project and approach Ranjitha Puskur 10.30 11.15 11.15 12:00 12.00 12.15 12.15 12.30 12.30 12.45 Project implementation progress, learning and challenges Discussion on major challenges and opportunities for upgrading goat value chains Brainstorming on similar/related projects/initiatives which could benefit from mutual learning and, modalities for creating interactions amongst those identified Discussion of the proposed ToR of the national advisory committee including frequency of meetings and communication etc Plans for the next meeting Issues for discussion BAIF Ranjitha Puskur 12.45 13.00 Wrap up and closing Dr AS Nanda 13