معوقات انتاج الدواجن في العراق

 

من المتوقع ان انتاج لحوم الدواجن في العراق في عام 2012 سيحافظ على مستوياتها المتدنيه السابقه وهي

حوالي150 الف طن سنويا. اذ ان قلة توفر العلف وامراض الدواجن وزيادة اسعار المواد الاوليه للعلف علاوة على انخفاض الفوائد المادية التي يجنيها مربي الدواجن مقرونة بسياسة فتح المنافذ الحدوديه الشرعيه والغير الشرعيه على مصراعيها, كل هذه العوامل ادت الى انخفاض الانتاج في هذا القطاع المهم والذي يعتبر العمود الفقري للامن الغذائي في العراق وكوردستان. ان التحسن البسيط لقطاع الدواجن في العراق في الاشهر الاولى لعام 2012 لم تستمر وذلك نتيجة للجفاف الذي حصل في امريكا واثره السالب على تجارة الحبوب في العالم.

 

اقليميا ان الوضع الغير مستقر في سوريا اثر على انتاجية القطاع لاسباب كثيره منها انقطاع خطوط المواصلات البريه والاستيراد. كما ان هبوط سعر الريال الايراني الى ربع قيمته مقابل الدولار اثرت بشكل مباشر على الانتاج المحلي العراقي لمواد كثيره تنتج في العراق ومن ضمنها الكساد الحاصل في جميع مجالات انتاج قطاع الدواجن في العراق مثل اسعار الفروج من الامهات والجدود والبيض واللحم وادت الى انخفاط الانتاج وحتى الى التوقف االانتاج المحلي. ومن المتوقع ان قطاع الدواجن في العراق سيبقى متدنيا حتى النصف الاول من عام 2013.

 

ان فرق العمله يؤدي الى ادخال الريال الايراني الرخيص الى العراق واستبداله بالدولارات الامريكيه من قبل التجار العراقيين واعادة الريال الى ايران لشراء بضاعه باسعار منخفضه جدا لتصديرها للعراق .على مايبدو ان تجار المواد الغذائيه هم اكثر المتداوليين بهذه التجاره والتي ستصيب الانتاج المحلي بالشلل التام وتودي الى نزيف العملات الصعبه بحجة التجاره المفتوحه.

 

أن العراق سيستورد هذا العام 603 الف طن من لحوم الدواجن . هذا يعني ان المستورد من خارج الحدود يعادل اربعة اضعاف الانتاج المحلي معناه ان كل خمسة دجاجات معروضه في السوق المحليه اربعة منها وردت من وراء الحدود اي ان الانتاج المحلي لحد الان يعمل ب20% من طاقته. فلو تدهورت الظروف الاقليميه الى الاسوء والمنحصره حاليا في الوضع الامني السوري ووضع الريال الايراني فهذه العوامل ستقلل اكثر من انتاج القطاع المحلي للدواجن اذ ان من المتوقع ان تنخفض احتمالات انتاجيه عام 2012 من 150 الف طن الى 137 الف طن.

 

من المتوقع ان يزداد استهلاك لحوم الدواجن في العراق لسنه 2013 الى 750 الف طن ,مقابل753 الف طن لعام 2012 و748 الف طن لعام 2011. المعروف ان العراقيين يفضلون اللحوم الحمراء على لحم الدواجن ولكون ان لحوم الدواجن تقارب ثلث قيمة اللحم الاحمر لذا يقدم المواطنين على شراء لحوم الدواجن لرخصها مقارنة بسعر لحوم الاغنام والابقار.

 

امراض الدواجن هي من اهم المعوقات التي تواجهها القطاع و تفتك بهذه الثروة بشكل مخيف وذكر تقرير لمنتجي الدواجن العراقيين ان 70% من الدواجن تصاب بامراض وان هذه الامراض تؤدي الى نفوق اكثر من 30% من الطيور. ان امراض الدواجن وارتفاع اسعار مكونات علف الدواجن هي من الاسباب الرئيسيه لضعف الانتاج المحلي والذى بلغ 137 الف طن في عام 2012 من اجمالي الاستهلاك 753 الف طن لنفس العام.

 

يدفع مربي الدواجن في العراق هذا العام 525 دولار للطن الواحد من الذره و950 دولار للطن الواحد من الصويا الذي يحتوي على 44% بروتين. لقد لوحظ امتناع العراق عن استيراد الذره الامريكيه, والتي تعتبر من اكبر منتجي الذره في العالم, كعلف للدواجن بحجة انها ربما تعرضت للتعديل الوراثي. السؤال الموجه للمسئولين العراقيين هو انه كيف يمكنهم الكشف على مايقدم من علف الى هذا الكم الهائل من الطيور المستورده من دول كثيره  والمعروفه  بان الشفافيه ليست من اولوياتها خاصتا لو كان المنتج معد للتصدير.

  سيبلغ استيراد العراق 603 الف طن  من لحموم الدواجن لعام 2012 من مجموعه من الدول وستكون حصة امريكا137 الف طن فقط , علما بانها تستخدم عادتا اجرائات ومواصفات صارمه وتراقب عمليات الانتاج  وعلاج وحفظ الدواجن سواء كانت للتصدير او الاستهلاك المحلي الامريكي. علما بان امريكا تنتج 260 مليون طن من الذره سنويا اي مايعادل اكثر من نصف انتاج العالم والذره مازالت احدى المكونات الرئيسيه لعلف الدواجن.



Iraq Poultry Production, Supply and Demand

Iraq’s domestic poultry production in 2012 is expected to hold steady at the 2011 level of 150 thousand metric tons (TMT) while the amount of imported poultry is expected to reach 603 TMT, up three percent from 598 TMT in 2011.  Increased production of poultry occurred during the first half of 2012 but subsequent high feed prices and serious disease problems that have not been addressed have curtailed growth. The Iraqi Poultry Producers Association (IPPA) estimates that the average mortality rate on poultry farms is approximately 30 percent and these high mortality rates combined with sharply higher feed costs suggest either weak or negative returns during the remainder of 2012 and through at least the first half of 2013. Potential expansion of domestic poultry production is not anticipated until the fall of 2013 and will only take place under a scenario of lower feed costs and improved feed availability, as well as some degree of industry success in addressing the currently high mortality rate.

Disease problems continue across all areas of Iraq and are particularly severe across central and southern areas. Bio-security and bio-safety protocols are not strictly adhered to by most producers making it difficult to separate disease problems from those arising from poor overall care and management. The IPPA and Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture officials are well aware of the problem but have been slow to react and formulate effective measures to counter the problem.

Feed Availability:

Domestic availability of poultry feed declined during 2012 as a result of a drop in available domestic supplies of wheat and corn. Corn is harvested and shucked by hand and then sold/delivered to Mesopotamia State Company for Seeds, part of the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture, where it is shelled. Poor quality of domestic corn is pervasive and results from a lack of shelling grain, poor storage and failure to thoroughly dry corn leading to growth of mold and potential aflatoxin issues. Larger, integrated poultry operations have indicated that past experience with Iraqi corn was problematic and that they no longer use it. Protein meal continues to be a major constraint, as Iraq produces only very limited quantities of oilseed crops and has no facilities for processing the cotton saeed it produces and which could be used for feed production.

Imports of feed for the poultry sector remain constrained by cumbersome import requirements and seasonal import bans while the conflict in Syria has cut the supply chain for both imported bulk feed products and finished feed products such as pellets. Prices worldwide have risen sharply since May 2012 yet the imported feed costs within Iraq remain well above what might be expected, assuming efficient market transactions, since traders/importers deal in relatively small quantities and rarely use bulk shipment. Corn, soybean meal, and feed pellets are generally shipped to Iraq in 50 kilogram bags. The IPPA reported that at end of July prices were $525 per metric ton for corn and $950 per metric ton for 44 percent protein soybean meal, suggesting ample opportunity existed for increased imports and lower feed prices, under a more relaxed regulatory and market structure.

The Ministry of Agriculture’s poultry initiative, announced in the spring of 2010 appears to be inactive. Under the proposal/plan the Ministry of Agriculture would have purchased corn and soybean meal then resold the imported feed products at subsidized prices of approximately 25 percent less than their total procurement and handling cost. A tender for corn was issued during the fall of 2011 but with specifications so restrictive that no offers were received. No follow-up activity is taking place. U.S. corn was excluded due to a ban on imports of genetically modified organisms. The Ministry of Agriculture needs to better understand that lower-cost imported feed products along with better producer practices are necessary in order to generate growth of the domestic poultry industry.

Consumption:

With domestic production flat and imports of poultry products increasing during 2012, per capita consumption is expected to decrease slightly from the 2011 level of 24.6 kilograms to 24.2 kilograms per capita. Continued economic growth across Iraq fueled by oil revenues should lead to continued gains in personal income and maintaining poultry meat consumption. The outlook for continued high consumer prices in the red meat sector adds to a generally favorable outlook for poultry consumption and in the absence of growth in the domestic production import levels will rise. While imported poultry prices may increase during 2013, the relative price advantage that imported poultry holds over domestic poultry and red meat products will remain solidly in place.

Trade:

Total Iraqi poultry imports are increasing steadily in response to population growth and rising incomes due to increased economic activity and oil revenues. Imported poultry is the most economical meat available to consumers in Iraq, priced at about one third the cost of imported and domestically produced beef and lamb. Total imports for 2012, including transshipments through regional countries, are expected to be 603 TMT up three percent from 598 TMT in 2011.

U.S. poultry exports to Iraq in 2012, including transshipments, are expected to decline moderately to 137 TMT from 160 TMT in 2011, because of difficulties with precertification requirements and increased competition from other suppliers, including Turkey. The outlook for the import of U.S. poultry products remains positive and is expected to rise as the market continues to grow. Precertification, which requires inspection and certification of shipments in the country of origin by a private sector contractor hired by the Iraqi government, continues to be an impediment to U.S. poultry exports to Iraq. It is important to note that the northern Kurdish region did not implement precertification for food products, so poultry enters Iraq from Turkey without this burdensome requirement. Precertification also appears to be distorting normal trading patterns and routes, resulting in increased transshipments to Iraq through regional countries.

Policy:

Precertification was proposed by the Ministry of Planning/Central Organization for Standards and Quality Control (COSQC), approved by the Council of Ministers in December 2010, and implemented on July 1, 2011. Under this new requirement, COSQC contracted with two private sector companies, SGS and Bureau Veritas, to inspect and certify, in the country of origin prior to shipment, that products meet Iraqi import requirements. Products arriving at Iraqi ports in the lower 15 provinces during 2011 and early 2012 were required to have a certificate of conformity issued by one of these two companies in the country of origin. The KRG has also implemented precertification of imports, but did not include food products. In March of 2012, the contract with SGS in the lower 15 provinces was canceled by COSQC leaving Bureau Veritas as the only provider of precertification services worldwide.

The new pre-import inspection and certification scheme came about in an effort to control imports of substandard and unsafe products. This was a legitimate and serious problem that needed to be addressed. However, precertification has proven to be a major technical barrier to trade for U.S. exporters, including poultry, and ineffective at controlling the quality and safety of imports. With the cancelation of the SGS contract, the ability of the one remaining company, Bureau Vertis, to provide certification services in the entire United States appears limited. Outdated and problematic import standards for food products are also a fundamental problem that further complicates the precertification system.

Produced by:USAID/VANO/IPP

معلومات عن الانتاج الحيواني العالمي.World Animal Production-Information

• Animals consume one-third of the global cereal grain supply.
• Total meat consumption in developing countries is projected to more than double by the year 2020, while, in developed countries, it is projected to increase no more and, in some cases, less than population growth .
• Global demand for meat is projected to increase more than 60% of current consumption by 2020.
• On a global basis, animals produce a kg of human food protein for each 1.4 kg of human-edible protein consumed. The biological value of protein in foods from animals is about 1.4 times that of foods from plants. Thus, diverting grains from animal production to direct human consumption would, in the long term, result in little increase in total food protein and would decrease average dietary quality and diversity.
• Global demand for cereals for food and feed [over the next 20 years] also will increase, at an annual rate expected to be between 1.1 and 1.4%.
• More than 50% of cropland is cultivated by draught animal power, while the use of manure is estimated to save the purchase of fertilizer worth $700 million to $800 million per year in irrigated systems in the humid tropics alone. In addition, manure provides cooking fuel, and animals are used for transporting food to markets.
• On a global basis, foods of animal origin, including fish, provide about 17% of the energy and more than 35% of the dietary protein; however, this average masks large variations between countries.
• Specialized livestock farms evolved in Europe and North America only in the last 50 years ...These types of farms produce more than 50% of the meat and more than 90% of the world's milk production...
• Globally, humans still directly consume nearly two thirds of total cereal production, while pigs consume approximately 12%, dairy cows 9%, beef cattle 5%, meat chickens 5%, and laying hens 4%. Ruminants in particular also consume by-products of crop production that are inedible by humans.
• Global average milk production per cow is currently only 10% of that in the highest-producing herds. Doubling the volume of milk produced without increasing the number of cows should be possible by improving all aspects of management, including nutrition, breeding, and disease control.
• Animal proteins have higher digestibilities (96 to 98%) than most plant proteins (65 to 70%). Furthermore, the amino acid composition of animal proteins is superior to that of plants. The biological values of animal proteins range from 90 to 100, relative to egg protein-the reference protein set to 100 by convention-while values for plant proteins range from 50 to 70%. The bioavailabilities of important minerals (including calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, magnesium, and manganese) and vitamins (thiamin [B₁], riboflavin [B₂], niacin, pyridoxine [B₆], and B₁₂) are much higher in animal as opposed to most plant products.
• Globally, 3.35 billion ha of land are grazed by livestock (Seré and Steinfeld, 1996. Most of this land is too arid, steep, rocky, or infertile to permit crop production and would produce no human food if not grazed by animals.
• Grazing lands supply only about 23% of the world's beef production and 30% of the world's sheep and goat meat but, because they complement and make possible other livestock production systems, their importance is not fully indicated by the amount of meat produced directly from them.

ندرة المياه والحروب-ألاهرام:المجله الزراعيه

ألرقم المذكور عن القمح هو 1.5 وليس 5.1



استراتيجية للسيطره على الحمى القلاعيه FMD Control

الحمى القلاعيه في الابقار

الحمى القلاعيه في البشر

 

الاهرام:المجله الزراعيه:بقلم الاستاذهاني البنا :اكتوبر2012

 

 

  

كثفت منظمة الأمم المتحدة للأغذية والزراعة والمنظمة العالمية لصحة الحيوان  جهودهما معا للسيطرة دوليا على مرض الحمى القلاعية، من خلال طرح استراتيجية مفصلة فى مواجهة هذا المرض الحيوانى المدمر، غير ان المنظمتين أكدتا لدى بدء اعمال مؤتمر دولى بدعوة من وزارة الزراعة التايلندية فى بانكوك أن شيئا لن يجعل نجاح مثل هذه الاستراتيجية ممكنا سوى الالتزام الثابت من جانب الشركاء العالميين.

 

وتؤكد المنظمة «فاو» على لسان مدير المكتب الإقليمى لآسيا والمحيط الهادى الخبير هيرايوكى كونوما، على «ضرورة العمل الجماعى للسيطرة على الحمى القلاعية الذى يقع عبؤه الاقتصادى عل عاتق الملايين من صغار المزارعين والمربين والتجار، وإذ يتبين بلا أدنى شك أن الأمراض الحيوانية لا تتوقف عند الحدود الوطنية للبلدان بل تحيق آثار مدمرة وتتطلب ردودا عالمية».

 

وأكد المشاركون فى المؤتمر أن مرض الحمى القلاعية قد لا يشكل تهديدا مباشرا على صحة الانسان، إلا أنه يبدد فرصا تجارية كبرى لدى البلدان المتضررة به ويعوق التنمية الاقتصادية والبشرية، والأهم من هذا وذاك أنه يلحق أفدح الأضرار بأفقر المزارعين الذين يتعايشون على بضعة رؤوس من الحيوانات، مما يقوض مواردهم للدخل والتغذية بمقياس اللحوم والحليب.

 

وأوضح المدير العام للمنظمة العالمية لصحة الحيوان، برنار فالات أن أحد أبرز أهداف الاستراتيجية العالمية هو تقوية الخدمات البيطرية فى جميع أنحاء العالم للسيطرة على الأمراض الحيوانية، وأضاف أن التأثيرات الايجابية للاستراتيجية ستمتد أبعد كثيرا من السيطرة على الحمى القلاعية وحدها إذ ستتيح فرصة لبدء تطبيق إجراءات واسعة النطاق للنهوض بقدرة الخدمات البيطرية على مكافحة الأمراض الحيوانية الأخرى ذات العواقب البالغة على قطاع الماشية.

 

وفى تقدير كبير مسئولى الصحة الحيوانية لدى المنظمة «فاو» الخبير خوان لوبروث، فإن استئصال وباء الطاعون البقرى بنجاح يمثل سابقة تاريخية نتج عن ثمار جهد مشترك من قبل العلماء والحكومات والجهات المتبرعة والخبراء البيطريين والمزارعين، ويدلل بوضوح على إمكانية تقليص بل والقضاء على تهديد الأمراض الكبري»، وشدد على ضرورة تطبيق الدروس من تجارب النجاح وتطبيق نماذج ملائمة أيضا فى حالة الحمى القلاعية للنهوض بمستويات المراقبة والتنسيق والسيطرة وخفض حالات التفشى تمهيدا لاجتثاث الفيروس، فى خدمة الأمن الغذائى وصحة الحيوان والصحة البشرية سواء بسواء.

 

وتدمج الاستراتيجية العالمية أداتين طورتا على يد كل من المنظمة «فاو» والمنظمة العالمية لصحة الحيوان، وتعنى الاداة الأخيرة المعروفة باسم مسار تقييم الخدمات البيطرية «pvs» بضمان إيفاء الخدمات الوطنية البيطرية بمعايير الجودة والموثوقية، مما يصون نوعية وسلامة الانتاج الحيوانى تباعا، ولا تحمى النظم البيطرية القوية سلامة موارد الغذاء والتجارة والصحة الحيوانية فحسب، بل وأيضا المصلحة العامة على المستويين الوطنى والدولي.

 

ومن جانبها طورت المنظمة «فاو» ما يعرف باسم مسار المكافحة التدريجى فى مواجهة مرض الحمى القلاعية "PCP - FMD" لتوجيه البلدان تدريجيا عبر سلسلة من الخطوات «التراكمية» لإدارة أخطار الحمى القلاعية بمزيد من الكفاءة، بدءا من المراقبة النشطة لتحديد سلالات الفيروس الموجودة فى المناطق موضع الشأن إلى عزل المناطق المجاورة، ويشارك هذا السياق فى تحسين مستويات السيطرة على المرض وبذا يفضى إلى إعادة فتح المنافذ التجارية والأسواق الدولية، ويستند أحد أعمدة هذا النظام إلى تنسيق الجهود مع البلدان فى الإقليم المعنى لضمان السيطرة على المرض نظاميا عبر مناطق الحدود الوطنية التى تنطوى على خطر نفاذية الفيروس.

 

 



اسباب و معوقات قلة انتاج حليب الابقار في محافظة السليمانية. د.برهان صابر

اسباب و معوقات قلة انتاج حليب الابقار في محافظة السليمانية

د.برهان صابر

خلاصة

اكثرية البحوث في المراكز العلميةهي بحوث اكاديمية بحثة ، وليست بحوث تطبيقية ، و تجرى لغرض الترقية الوضيفية  او نيل شهادات عليا في  مواضيع علمية خاصة بموضوع علمي معين . لكن هذا البحث تدخل ضمن قائمة  (Rural research )  والتى هي جزء من (social research) من خلال هذا البحث اسعى لايجاد اسباب و معوقات انتاج الحليب والتى ترجع الى تخلف صناعة المواشى بصورة عامة و ثقافة اصحاب الحقول والتى تتأثر بدوره بسياسةالحكومة من ناحية تأمين و سلامة الغذاء . عدم التطرق لهذه المواضيع و التى ترتبط مباشرة بمواضيع تامين الغذاء، هي بسبب تداخل الموضوع مع سياسة الحكومة في المجال الزراعى بصورة عامة و استريجيته في تـأمين  وسلامة الغذاء بصورة خاصة ،والتى لاتمر بدون مشاكل في بلدنا، لاغنى عنها للباحثين . لذلك نجد ان البحوث العلمية التى تجرى  في مراكزنا العلمية،لاتحدث تغييرات جوهريةفي مجالات الحياة في مجتمعاتنا،فعلى سبيل المثال نجد رغم وجود امكانيات مادية ، و وجود اكثر من 500 طبيب بيطري و الالاف المهندسين الزراعيين و كلية الطب البيطري و كليات الزراعة باقسمامه  المتعدده، وعدد هائل من الفلاحين ،فلايوجد حقل ابقار تتواجد فيه شروط التربية والتغذية الصحية و سجلات لتسجيل المعلومات عن الابقار حتى في المراكز العلمية،فما جدوى اعمالنا؟

The reason behind the low production

of cow’s milk in Sulaimaniyah province

50 farmers in the Sulaymaniyah province were randomly selected from the 10 best farmers who had been selected by each of 13 AI officers from 12 veterinary centers covering 39 villages and the surrounding farms.

The farmers were asked questions about;

Their knowledge of cattle husbandry, their animals e.g breeding, record keeping, feeds used, milk yield, housing in cow pen or barn, their use of the extension system etc. 

1:    The farmers and their animals

·      58% of participants have another job, farming is their second career.

·      48% of farmers receive salary form the government or from a political party. This has a negative effect on farmers who then do not care about farming.

·      All participants have a total of 757 animals giving an average of 15.4 cows/farmer.  These animals are from a variety of breeds, namely 15.19% local breeds , cross breed 57.86%, Simmental 10.17%, Brown Swiss 5.54%, and Holstein 10.96%. This is indicative of active smuggling because Simmental, Brown Swiss, and pure Holstein cows are imported illegally, and farmers prefer rearing high productive cattle. As more than half of the cows are cross breeds, it indicates efficiency of AI.

·      Although 57.86 of animals are cross breeds produced by AI, most of farmers do not have any information about what is a Filial generation. In total there are only 2 F4 calves, 3 F3 animals and 11 F2 calves which does not reflect 42 years of AI activity in Sulaiymaniyah. This caused by a lack of cow pedigree recording, and identification and traceability of individual animals.

·      The reason for cattle breeding in the first place is dairy farming and reproduction with Simmental cows being used for dairy farming.

·      Participating farmers had conducted AI over 3 to 42years.

·      Reasons for not obtaining F4 or F6 generations were: the selling of calves as beef animals by 26 farmers, abortion on 2 farms, 1 farm was unsuitable, the cost of keeping calves on 1 farm, cattle ruining the village was the reason given at 1farm and calves viewed as undesirable  by1 farmer.

·      86% of farmers prefer a private sector AI service because they work after official time and on holidays. 12% used both private and public AI services while 2% used natural insemination.

·      Only one of the participants was not satisfied with AI officers because his cows had aborted.

·      60% of participant farmers prefer private sector for animal treatment because the government sector has a lack of medicines, the low level of experience of personnel and limited official time.

22% of those questioned used the government sector and the remaining18% had no preference.

2.     Feeding methods used

·      42% do not feed cows with clover, 36% feed clover while 20% sometimes feed clover to their animals Clover is a strategic and necessary feed for cattle and failure to meet the animals’ nutritional needs is another reason of low production and diseases, particularly diseases of the reproduction system.

·      None of the farmers measure the amount of clover that the cows are fed with.

·      88% percent of the farmers surveyed do not feed the cows with corn while 4% feed it sometimes and 8% utilize this feed. This is another reason of low productivity and diseases particularly reproductive disease.

·      None of the farmers who use corn measure the amount of corn that the cows are fed.

·      The best cow feed according to the experience of participating farmers was; clover, 25 farmers, 11farmers preferred to use black barley, 10 farmers used corn, 1 used mixed feed, while 8 farmers used a readily available cattle feed. This indicates that only 18% of farmers know the perfect cow feed.

·      66% of farmers do not feed cows with dried grass or clover during winter and summer. 4% of farmers sometimes feed them with dried grass and only 30% do use this as a daily feed. That is another reason of low product and diseases particularly reproductive disease.

·      None of the farmers that use dried grass measure the amount of grass that the cows are fed with.

·      42% do not add salt to the cows feed, 4% sometimes do so while the remaining 48% add salt in the feed. Although salt is cheap, the only reason that most of the farmers do not add it is a lack of extension and only 2% of farmers use the correct salt to feed ratio. Meanwhile 98% do not know the correct ratio.

·      32% of farmers do add vitamins in the feed, 4% sometimes, and 42% do not add vitamins at all.

·       Only 4% of farmers  use the correct ratio of vitamins, the remaining 96% add incorrect amounts. That is another reason of low production and diseases, particularly reproductive disease, and also gives negative effects on AI performance.

·      Only 28% offer feed to new born calves at the correct time at age of 7-15days, 28% of them feed at one month, 22% of them feed them at 2 months, 12% feed at 3months, finally 6% of them feed at 4 months.

3.     Milking methods and milk yield

·      20% of farmers use machines for milking, while 80% use traditional hand milking.

·      92% of farmers milk the cows twice a day, 6% milk cows 3 times a day (milking 3 times a day cause a 25% increase in milk production), and only 2% of them milk cows once a day, (these are farmers that have another job or have salary)  

·      Average of local breed cow milk production was 6.78 litres  (244 litre/63 farmer), the lowest was 2 litres, while the highest was 16 litres.

·      Average of cross breed cow milk production was 13.21kg (568 kg/43Farmer) the least was 4 kg, the highest was 30 kg.

·      Milk production in other breeds was: Simmental;18kg ,Brown swiss 29kg , Holstein; 40 kg

·      Total milk production was 1,996 kg , the average was about 10kg/cow.

·      Weaning; 34% of the farmers do not wean until they judge the calf to be satisfied, 28% at wean calves at 6-12 months, 32%  at 3-6months, while 6% wean calves at1-3months. The correct time of weaning is 58 days and to establish this practice extension service is required.

·      Only 2% measure the amount of milk given to a calf, while 98% do not know they should do so, because almost all of them allow calves to suckle directly which causes many problems and wasting milk.

·      74% of the farmers sell their dairy product as yogurt,22% as “traditional DO”, 6% as milk, while 14% do not sell their products at all – the latter are those who have another job”

·      The price of 1kg of yogurt is from 600-1750 ID depending on the season, during spring it is cheap, as it is in far places.

·      78% of farmers use the milk of systematically treated cows, 22% do not.

·      68% of do not use the milk of cows for mastitis by the use of intramammary infusion ointment but 32% will use the milk if yogurt can be made of it.

4.     Housing of animals

·      4% of the participating farmers have the legal license for a dairy farm project, 45% don’t have, 6% of them are in progress of obtaining a license.

·      68% of the farmers close the windows in cold weather,16% of them do not while the remaining 16% close them partway.

·      26% of the farmers have stocks for individual cows, 74% of them do not. Both individual stocks and mass pens are necessary for vaccination, blood collecting, etc. procedures to be carried out.

·      40% of the cows live in an indoor system, 60% of them in an outdoor facility or are free to roam. Keeping cows in closed places with imbalanced feed causes nutritional deficiencies, reproductive disorders, pica, madness etc.

·      64% of farmers have not numbered/tagged their cows, 32% of them have numbered some of their animals.

·      50% of farmers beat their cows by sticks. While the others do not. Physical punishment causes low milk production and makes animals nervous and harder to handle.

·      2% of farmers have data record notebooks for AI, while 100% have no cow data records at all. Recording cow data is necessary for recording issues and breeding results.

5.     Extension System

·      48% of farmers have known that an extension office exists as a part of the agriculture office while 52% of them have no knowledge of this.

·      35 farmers ask AI officers for extension, 29 have asked veterinarians while 8 have asked expert friends. No one asked extension office for extensions.

·      Only 6% of farmers have participated in an extension course within the last 10 years.

·      90% of farmers have yet to visit an extension office while 10% have done so.

·      98% of farmers do not have a telephone number for an extension office phone.

·      32% of farmers have personal computer in their house, the remaining 78% do not

·      Only 8% can use a computer.

·      16% of them have internet in their houses but only 8% of the farmers can use it.

·      The extension system contacts farmers by: phone 2%, visiting the farm 4%, through the rural council 14% while the remaining 82% have not been contacted at all.

·      Source of farming information; 100% traditional,10% from experienced people, 18% from TV, 2% from newspapers, and 2% the web.

·      46% of farmers stop milking pregnant cows prior to delivery, while 54% of them do not.

·      36% of farmers stop milking pregnant animals from 40-60 days before calving. The correct time to stop milking the pregnant cow is 60 days before calving.

·      The only used method among the farmers for drying/stopping a cow producing milk is to milk her less frequently each day, or milking the cow every other day. The correct method is to change her feed and reduce her drinking water.

6.     Miscellaneous

·      30% of farmers benefit from MOA facilities but do not consider vaccination, AI services, treatments and extension services as facilities.

·       4% benefited from loans, 6% received pick-up trucks, 6% had greenhouses, 10% obtained feed, 2% received tractors while 2% had horticultural equipment.

·      10% of farmers are satisfied with the MOAs facilities but 90% are not.

·      20% of those participating are not satisfied with cow rearing, 80% are.

Result of data analysis

At the moment 100% of animal management, husbandry, housing producing milk and milk processing are in a primitive, unhealthy and nonscientific condition. This indicates that farmers are in urgent need of an extension system.

The extension center situation in Kurdistan

Extension office activity of a center was taken as a sample for the 2011 fiscal year, and covered 154 village including 3,466 farmers. The survey results were:

·      2 extension officers per 2,466 farmers. (compare with  a Japanese extension center where 225extension officers, assisted by 298 rural agriculture leaders serve 1,820 farms)

·      Animal extension officers hold high school and agriculture institute certificates.

·      They had 16 activities per year consisting of meetings and visits.

·      Subjects of meetings were; vaccination, animal barns, zoonotic diseases, dairy hygiene.

·      Farmer beneficiaries were; 119 at ratio of  3.44% .

·      Village beneficiaries were; 18 at ratio of  11.69%.

Scientific center

Both Sulaiymaniyah and Erbil agriculture college/ animal resource faculties were asked about question that already had been answered by the participating farmers above:

There were no great differences between answers including;

·      Have few animals;  in Sulaimaniyah there are 5 cows, 2 bulls, 4 calves, and 8 cows, 2 bulls, 4 calves.

·      They have no information about their calf F. generation

·      They have only one breed of cows; Holstein X local cow cross breeds.

·      They use natural mating for their cows, which has no reasonable cause at all in modern dairy practice.

·      They fed their cow clover but they do not measure out feeds just as farmers surveyed do not.

·      In Erbil college no vitamin supplements at all are given in the feed, while in Sulaiymaniyah .college 0.02 ratio of vitamins is given when the advised normal ratio is 1%

·      Calves in Erbil are weaned at 3months of age while in Sulaimaniyah they are weaned at 3-4 months.

·      Calves suckle milk directly.

·      Milking of pregnant cows is stopped at 1-2 months before parturition by reducing the amount of milking and without changing the pregnant cow’s feed.

Results

Livestock industry conditions are totally primitive and are the main cause of low milk production. Even cow management in scientific centers is not scientific! Allowing natural mating for cows in scientific centers has no reasonable cause at all and extension system as a part of MOA&WR animal management promotion policy is very weak with a lack of attention given to agriculture. The total agricultural investment in Kurdistan was less than 2% .*

*Investment in Kurdistan from 2006-2010, by Dr.Talib Elam: www.kurdistanfoodsecurity.com

Suggestion to improve livestock industry to increase milk product

1.   Change in MOA&WR extension system policy

2.   Change in MOA&WR animal production facilities.

COMMENT BY KURDISTANFOODSECURITY.COM

we are astounded to discover the poor knowledge of animal husbandry on the part of the farmers involved in this survey but that it reveals evidence of illegal smuggling of cattle, apathy on the part of over 40% of the farmers and that a third of them were prepared to make yogurt from the milk of animals being treated with antibiotics for mastitis! If that was not anough the survey of the institutions that should be teaching students correct husbandry procedures are doing no better than the farmers! How can they profess to teach students to an acceptable standard when they fail to practice accepted methods of cattle husbandry? It reminds me of the situations I saw in developing countries in Africa some 30 years ago and I fee sorry for the animals concerned.