The long term objective of the project is to secure and improve livelihoods

of poor livestock keepers through utilisation and conservation of

indigenous FAnGR.

Red jungle fowl cock Indigenous chicken flock

Beetal herd– Makhi-cheeni Ban pig

Project objectives are being achieved through three main components and

focus areas;

i.Tools for documentation and assessment of FAnGR: development and

testing of appropriate tools for breeding and management, as well as a

framework for their implementation at community level; diversity assessment

and conservation of priority breeds; and cost-benefit analysis for alternative

breeds in low-input production systems.

ii.Training and capacity building: assessments of training needs;

development of training materials; conducting targeted training.

iii.Market and policy analysis: stakeholder analysis; development of a

conceptual framework for characterizing existing indigenous FAnGR marketing

systems and guiding marketing options; identification of policies and their

impact.

Collaborating Institutions

Conservation and sustainable use of indigenous farm animal genetic

resources (FAnGR) in Asia and in other regions of the developing world merit

considerable attention. These regions are home to highly diverse FAnGR,

which both directly and indirectly contribute significantly to their keepers’

livelihoods and to humankind in many other ways.

Diversity of FAnGR is, however, fast disappearing, hence an urgent need to

conserve the existing functional genetic diversity. This can be achieved by

sustainably improving the productivity of the existing breeds and crop-livestock

production systems to respond to the current and future increases in demand

for livestock products.

Being centres of origin for several major livestock species (e.g. pig, chickens

and goats), South and South-East Asian countries, such as Bangladesh,

Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are particularly rich in genetic diversity of

FAnGR.

Why conserve indigenous livestock?

Rich diversity in these countries is being genetically eroded following

indiscriminate crossbreeding and breed replacement programs. With a number

of livestock breeds having already become extinct, there is a growing and

urgent need to characterize and sustainably use/conserve the remaining

breeds, so as to meet the increasing demand for livestock products and to be

able to effectively respond to the uncertain future demands in marketing and

production systems as well as to the challenges posed by climate change.

The FAO Global Action Plan has identified the lack of relevant institutional

capacity as a key constraint to the conservation and utilisation of FAnGR.

Thus, there is an urgent need to generate evidence in partnership with

livestock keeping communities and to create awareness at the community and

government decision making levels on the key place and roles of FAnGR. In

addition, the related links between poverty alleviation in rural areas and the

improvement of livestock production through sustainable use/conservation of

FAnGR diversity must be stressed.

This can be achieved through:

• Capacity building and training of relevant stakeholders;

• Developing and making available decision-support tools and frameworks

for information generation and knowledge management so as to enable

prioritization, sustainable in-situ utilization, and conservation of indigenous

FAnGR.

Little has been done in developing countries with regard to strategies that

enable the sustainable use of FAnGR for securing and improving human

livelihoods. Such strategies will need to address the following aspects:

• which indigenous populations/breeds exist today, and what contributions

are they making to the livelihoods of their keepers?

• how can such contributions of FAnGR to human livelihoods and sustained

environmental health be enhanced or optimized (i.e. how can maximum

economic returns be achieved)?

• how can the information above be incorporated into decisions on

conservation and utilization programs, and/or mainstreamed into the

planning processes and resource allocation for the existing indigenous

and non-indigenous FAnGRs?

• how best can agricultural improvement programs be designed so as to

minimize potential negative impacts on the genetic diversity of FAnGR

and the environment?

• how can existing policy and marketing agencies be better informed to be

more supportive of sustainable utilization of indigenous FAnGRs?

3. Project justification and rationale

Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU)

(National Executing Agency)

Website: www.fangrbd.org

Others: Ministry of Environment & Forest; Department of

Livestock Services; World Vision Bangladesh

University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan (UAF)

(National Executing Agency)

Website: www.fangrpk.org

Others: Ministry of Climate Change; Pakistan Agricultural

Research Council; Livestock and Dairy Development

Department, Government of Punjab

University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (UoP)

(National Executing Agency)

Website: www.fangrsl.org

Others: Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Livestock and

Rural Community Development; Department of Animal

Production and Health; Provincial Ministries of Livestock

National Institute of Animal Husbandry, Vietnam

(NIAH) (National Executing Agency)

Website: www.fangrvn.com

Others: Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources;

Ministry of Agriculture (Dept. of Livestock Production);

Provincial Livestock Departments

Development and Application of Decision Support Tools to

Conserve and Sustainabily use Genetic Diversity in

Indigenous Livestock and Wild Relatives

(website: www.fangrasia.org)

1. Introduction

2. Constraints for conservation

4. Goal

5. Expected outputs

National Project Directors: Prof. A.K.F.H Bhuiyan (Bangladesh); Prof. M. Sajjad Khan (Pakistan); Prof. Pradeepa Silva (Sri Lanka); Prof. Le Thi Thuy (Vietnam)

Regional Project Coordinator: Prof. M.N.M. Ibrahim (Biotechnology Theme, ILRI, Narobi), Regional Project Office, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Project Leader: Dr. Okeyo Mwai, Team Leader, Improving Utilization of Livestock Genetic Resources, Biotechnology Theme ILRI Nairobi

Donor Organization

Global Environment Facility

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the world’s largest public funder of international environmental projects, is supporting the Development and Application of Decision-support tools to conserve and sustainably

use genetic diversity in indigenous livestock and wild relatives project initiative led by Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is coordinating the project with

implementation support from the United Nations Environment Programme.(UNEP). Working in the four partner countries the project addresses ways to secure and improve livelihoods of poor livestock keepers through

utilisation and conservation of indigenous FAnGR and their wild relatives.

This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution –Non commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License August 2012