Focus
 
Livestock Production in Central Asia: Constraints and Opportunities
Luis Iñiguez, M. Suleimenov, S. Yusupov, A. Ajibekov, M. Kineev,
S. Kheremov, A. Abdusattarov, D. Thomas, and M. Musaeva
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) has a population of about 32.6 million small ruminants, and a rangeland area covering 250 million hectares. Livestock production is still an important source of livelihood for poor producers. However, the breakdown of the Soviet Union brought a shift to a new economic system, which changed the production context dramatically with severe impacts on the livestock production sector. ICARDA has been working with national partners and international institutions to help small producers benefit from the new production systems.

T
he Soviet era was characterized by two types of agricultural enterprise: cooperative farms (koljoz) and state farms (sovjoz). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the large farm enterprises were broken into cooperatives, individual, and household farms. The cooperative farms are various kinds of joint stock companies with the involvement of government, particularly in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Individual farms are registered as legal entities, with the owner usually acting as the farm manager having a group of hired labor for farm operations. Individual farms vary in size, normally fitting into a medium-size operation, but could be as small as a household or as large as a collective farm. Large-scale farms still play an important role in livestock production in countries with gradual reforms, while they almost were substituted by household farms in countries with more liberalized economies.

The application of reforms was also accompanied by the deterioration, and, in some cases, dissolution, of production organization and support services, and the lack of funding for modernized research and technology transfer. Though farmers are largely educated and some have working experience and knowledge in animal and agricultural production, their knowledge is mainly in large-scale production rather than low-input small-scale production technologies and strategies. In addition, credit or any form of financial support for production is not widely available. In general, a culture of borrowing money was not developed during Soviet times, and companies never financed the purchase of farm assets. Thus, farmers are supposed to pay the total cost of machinery or agricultural inputs in cash. This results in limited availability of machinery, equipment and farm inputs. There have been efforts by the different countries to develop some forms of credit, but these programs have not been effective because they ask for unaffordable collateral and interest rates.
Mulberry trees are a valuable feed source in regions of Central Asia such as Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The emerging production systems do not adequately utilize rangelands—the cheapest feed source. Large flocks/herds of small ruminants were formerly managed by different seasonal and rotational grazing strategies, some involving the movement of flocks through several thousand kilometers a year to graze seasonal ranges. But the movement of flocks by small producers is now virtually impossible, as this requires capital and special arrangements that smallholders cannot afford. As a consequence, animals over-graze nearby ranges and under-graze remote ranges.

Studies conducted by ICARDA identified a problem of high feeding costs and scarcity of fodder during winter because farmers do not stock adequate fodder. This is due to the lack of machinery and infrastructure. Machinery is mostly obsolete, whereas available infrastructure, mostly built to suit large farm operations, is not suited to the needs of smallholders. Large barns and silos constructed during Soviet times were systematically dismantled. With less feed resources, farmers have to purchase feed, particularly during winter, which accounts for 50 to 63% of farm costs.
Herders in Kemin, Kyrgyzstan, depend on highland range grazing.
In addition, there are other problems including the emergence of new animal health problems in the region. Due to the lack of reliable epidemiological systems and assessments, the magnitude of this problem is hard to estimate. Animal health services are provided by the government, but are inadequate to satisfy demand. Furthermore, with the collapse of breeding programs there are serious risks to the integrity of genetic resources because of indiscriminate crossing among breeds, disappearance of breeds or wrong targeting of breeding goals.

The collapse of the large Soviet market also means limited opportunities for farmers to market their products. A recent assessment found that the quality of wool was poor with little chance to successfully compete with global producers. The market for Karakul pelts is also saturated. The poor market infrastructure and strategies also limit producers in capturing markets. Even where the market offers good opportunities, the returns per flock on traditional products such as wool, skins or pelts, offer little incentive to small producers. Left with few options to generate income, farmers began to sell their animal stocks. This translated into a dramatic animal population decline. For instance, by 1998, the population of small ruminants in Kazakhstan had decreased to 10 million from 35 millions heads in 1990 (nearly 70%).

Possible role of research
Central Asia needs strong agricultural research systems to help solve these problems and improve the incomes of farmers. Several organizations have embarked on research activities in livestock production in the region. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided the first international support to ICARDA for research undertaken in 1996. The Universities of California-Davis and Wisconsin-Madison, funded by the Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP), also joined in these efforts.

A research project on "Feed and Livestock Production in the Steppes of Central Asia," funded by IFAD and implemented by ICARDA, identified the following research topics that need urgent attention:
•
Emphasis on a new research approach oriented to the emerging production and farm environment
•
Types of production systems, constraints and interactions among them in relation to use of natural resources, livestock management, and marketing
•
Winter feeding and enhancement of the feed base
•
Production orientation and diversification to target market opportunities
•
 Assessment of biodiversity and access by farmers to improved germplasm
•
 Institutional strengthening

Studies conducted by ICARDA
The mobile flock
In 2000, a study was conducted in Berlik community in Kazakhstan. The village area is heavily overgrazed with evident erosion while remote ranges are unused. The village is mostly composed of smallholders with few heads of livestock including small ruminants. Discussions were held with 24 farmers on the possibility of putting together a consolidated, mobile flock for collective grazing for a period of 7 months in distant ranges, at least 15 km from the villages. Issues discussed included the rangeland to be grazed, the availability of wells and the potential areas of conflict with other farmers with the right of access to the remote ranges. The grazing fee was calculated to be 450 Tenge per animal, which represents 12 to 15% of the price of an animal.

In 2001, the mobile herd was tried. A total of 23 farmers entrusted their sheep and goats (from 1 to 70 animals per family) to one shepherd. On 20 April, when the herd moved to a remote range, it had a total number of 593 heads (305 adult sheep and goats, and 288 lambs and kids). Most of the sheep were Kazakh fine-wool animals. The animals were finally moved to the mountains for summer grazing. On 29 June, the average live-weight of lambs was 31.8 kg (23 to 35.5 kg). The shepherd predicted that no weight gains would be expected in July and the beginning of August due to the intense summer heat, but further gains in live-weight would occur from the end of August to the end of October. By this period, the lambs weighed 40 to 45 kg, regardless of date of birth and, more importantly, they were all sold.

Using mulberry trees for improving feeding systems
In the ongoing research with scientists at the Karakul Research Institute of Uzbekistan, Samarkand, the use of mulberry leaves in livestock feeding systems was considered. The assessment of the availability of this feeding material indicated that there are about 800 specialized silk farms in the country, including about 33,000 hectares of mulberry (8 million trees), in addition to 93 million trees along the roads or dividing cropping areas, giving a total of about of 100 million trees. It is estimated that there are nearly 1.6 million trees in the Samarkand region alone. With a high value of metabolizable energy, mulberry leaves provide a natural concentrate for feed.

Early lambing
Results of early lambing in the conditions of foothill semi-deserts are confirming the potential of this technology to improve Karakul and Sarajin sheep production in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. This technology allows ewes to benefit from spring pastures to restore body weight faster, increase the crop of lambs, produce healthy lambs, produce good quality pelts (in the case of Karakul sheep), and accelerate weaning. The studies conducted in collaboration with scientists at the Karakul Research Institute of Uzbekistan showed that the drop in weight from mating to lambing was more accentuated in late than early mating/ lambing. The drop in body weight in ewes mated/lambed in August/January, September/ February and October/March was 6.6, 9.2 and 9.7 kg, respectively. The weight recovery in ewes that lambed early (in January and February) was faster than those lambing in the traditional period, thus it is expected that fertility rates of early lambed ewes will be improved. In all cases, the earliest lambing animals reached the heavier post-lambing weights by June. In the Uzbekistan trial, by April-May the lambs born early in January had already reached the weights that lambs from the traditional period would attain at the time of their weaning in July. This finding opens the possibility of weaning lambs by May and placing them in a fattening program to target market opportunities, or if good summer pastures are available, grazing them for natural fattening in the range (Nagul system).

Lamb fattening
Karakul lambs fattened with Mulberry leaf-based feed blocks in Nurata, Uzbekistan.
Different fattening strategies were tested in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, adding to the menu of alternatives for generating income. Lessons were learned on maximizing profits of farmers at minimum cost. In some areas, like in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan with good rangelands and feed grain, the Nagul system seems to be the base for building any fattening strategy. However, the Nagul system was not as appropriate for the desert steppes of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The Nagul system consists of fattening or pre-fattening lambs in the rangelands, after weaning, and has proved its efficiency in the case of good range fodder availability in summer ranges. An additional achievement was the introduction of feed block technology, associated with fattening and strategic feeding trials. This new technology, which has captured the interest of farmers in Nurata, Uzbekistan, could help to integrate available agro-industrial by-products for intensive production diets such as for fattening.

Assessment of diversity of breeds
ICARDA has undertaken a major research in the cataloging of small ruminants in Central Asia. Information on on-station breed characterization, obtained during the Soviet Union, has been condensed and documented by each country, and a book containing this characterization information is being prepared. In addition, the monitoring of on-farm production of only major indigenous breeds was started in each country in order to realize the actual production performance of the breeds outside a controlled environment and to learn more about the suitability of indigenous vs. improved breeds under current conditions. ICARDA is looking into possible collaboration with advanced research organizations to undertake the genetic characterization of the breeds to identify possible relationships among breeds and further steps in the conservation and management of these resources.

Strengthening research institutions
Scientific organizations in Central Asia are poorly equipped and their staff underpaid. Though improvements are occurring in some countries, this situation is likely to continue in the near future. There is an urgent need to train scientists, particularly in problem-solving and community-based research, upgrade research infrastructure, and a desirable level of communication within the region.

Conclusion
The economic transition in Central Asia has significantly affected the livestock sector. The changes were not followed by adequate institutional arrangements in the farming and research environments. Thus, farmers did not find adequate access to new market opportunities, and research failed to address farmers' production problems. Though limited, market opportunities exist in the countries and could provide options for reorientation or diversification of the production systems. However, investments should be made in carefully learning the socioeconomic implications and institutional arrangements needed for effective changes to take place. The different application of reforms in the countries leading to different sets of farm environments and conditions offer a unique opportunity to look upon in order to identify complementarities among farming systems for better exploitation of the natural resource base and market targeting.
Dr Luis Iñiguez (l.iniguez@cgiar.org) is a Senior
Small-Ruminant Scientist at ICARDA; Dr M. Suleimenov
is a scientist with ICARDA-CAC & PFU/CGIAR
in Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Dr S. Yusupov is a
scientist with the Karakul Sheep Breeding and
Desert Ecology Research Institute, Samarkand,
Uzbekistan; Dr A. Ajibekov is a scientist at the
Agrarian Science and Consulting Services Center,
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Dr M. Kineev is a scientist at the
Research Production Center of Livestock and Veterinary,
Almaty, Kazakhstan; Dr S. Kheremov is a scientist at the
Turkmen Agricultural University, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan;
Dr A. Abdusattarov is a scientist at the Uzbek Scientific Production
Center of Agriculture (USPCA), Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Dr D. Thomas
is a reseacher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; and
Ms Madina Musaeva is a Research Fellow, ICARDA, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
 
Contents  |  About ICARDA and the CGIAR  |  From the Director General
Table of Issues  |  ICARDA Publications  |  ICARDA Home
-
© 2008 International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). See copyright and disclaimer information.