1. Constraints in the Livestock Value Chains in
Africa; The Role of Science, Technology and
Innovation
Uganda| 18 June 2014
• Yona Baguma, PhD
• Acting Deputy Director General Research Coordination, NARO
Plot 11-13,Lugard Avenue, P.O. Box 295, Entebbe, Uganda
t: +256 (414) 320512, 320341/2 m: +256 (772) 930185, f: +256 (414) 321070
Email: researchcoordination@naro.go.ug baguma1234@yahoo.com,

2. Outline of the Presentation
• Nine critical facts
• Economic significance of livestock in Africa
• Mega challenges to livestock in Africa
• The livestock value chains in Africa
• The critical weak-links in the livestock value chains in Africa
• An account of advances in STIs and applications in livestock VC in
Africa
• The critical gaps for Africa and smart interventions options
• Perspectives on STIs in livestock in Africa
• Critical commitments to improve livestock value chains in Africa

3. Nine Critical Facts
1. Severe hunger and poverty affects nearly 1 billion people
around the world and 2 billion people in the developing world
are malnourished.
2. Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people get their food
and income from farming small plots of land.
3. Shifting demography – increasing urbanization and incomes -
means less subsistence farming is imminent.
4. Emerging middle class that is increasingly aware of health
and lifestyle – means quality of food will be more important
than just quantity.
5. About 150 million of the rural poor in SSA are dependent of
livestock to sustain their livelihood.
6. Their livestock are frequently weak or sick, resulting in
reduced production of eggs and milk to eat or sell.

4. Nine Critical Facts
7. Many of these farmers are women, who are key to breaking
the vicious cycle of malnutrition in their families.
8. Their success/failure determines whether they have enough
to eat, are able to send their children to school, and can earn
any money to save and lead healthy and productive lives.
9. Livestock are real stocks or securities at per with any stock
traded on any market.

5. Economic Significance of Livestock in
Africa
Poor body condition due to
poor feeding and diseases
Women play a key role in
livestock production

6. Mega Challenges
to Livestock in Africa
• Diseases and pests burden
a) Several (rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia,
African swine fever, pasteurellosis, anthrax, blackleg, foot-and-
mouth disease, brucellosis) and severe with far reaching
impacts on productivity
b) Poor support systems. A large proportion of the few trained
vets are not engaged in the livestock sectors
• Livestock productions systems in Africa
a) Ruminant production mostly in the hot arid lands
b) Inadequate knowledge and expertise of producers
compounded with poor outreach
c) Sub-optimal land tenure, fragmentation
d) Unsustainable inheritance practices - usually land is
subdivided among children – need a shift to securitization of
land. The current land held by a house hold should be fixed.
And indivisible. Joint ownership of land through shares? A

7. Mega Challenges Cont’d
• Inadequate quantity and quality of feed and water
• Poor and inefficient transportation methods for live animals
• Poorly developed livestock post-slaughter sensitive value chains
a) Lack of processing and preservation techniques
b) Poor quality of finished products - packaging, standards, etc.
• Institutional constraints: Capacity
building/Policies/Regulations/Enforcement
• Crosse cutting - social dynamics/cultural impacts on livestock
production
• Climate change and climate variability
• Slow advances in livestock genetic improvements coupled with
shortage of breeders with a vision
• Untapped existing and novel markets and poor support marketing
info
a) Lack of business skills
b) Equitable transactions - When a famer brings her perishable
produce to a distant market, she is at the mercy of the buyer

8. 1. Animal health
(disease
control)
1. Breeding
techniques
3. Animal housing,
reduction of
environmental load
(minerals, energy,
greenhouse gases,
manure digestion)
& milking winning
techniques
4. Economy
and farm
management
5. Animal
nutrition
6.Forage
production
(management of
grassland and
fodder crops)
Chain
manageme
nt (product
quality &
safety)
Processing
industry
Dairy
cooperatives,
slaughter
houses, egg
processors
Supply
industry
Feed,
veterinary
services &
genetic
materials
The Livestock Value Chain
7. Systems innovations

9. An Account of Advances in STIs
and Applications in Livestock VC in
AfricaAdvances in animal nutrition
• Enabled utilisation of highly fibrous low-digestibility feeds which constitutes
the major proportion of feeds to most ruminants under smallholder in Africa.
a) balancing of nutrients for the growth of rumen microflora thereby
facilitating efficient fermentative digestion,
b) treatment with alkali or by manipulating the balance of organisms in the
rumen
c) genetic manipulation of rumen micro-organisms, currently
acknowledged as potentially the most powerful tool for enhancing the
rate and extent of digestion of low quality feeds
• Recent data from human studies indicate strong influence interaction
between food and gut microbiome. No doubt that such interaction exists in
livestock – and have impact on productivity and quality of produce.
• Recent data has indicated presence of viruses in the rumen of sheep and
goats (Agaba 2013, Personal Communication). This presents unlimited
possibilities to manipulate rumen environment among other things.

10. An Account of Advances in STIs
and Applications in Livestock VC in
AfricaAdvances in animal nutrition Cont’d
• Exploiting conventional plant breeding in reducing, and, in some
cases, eliminating anti-nutritive factors, which severely impacts on
non-ruminants
• Technologies for utilization of crop residues as animal feeds; the use
of fungi (like mushrooms) to pre digest fibrous materials before
feeding, homemade mineral blocks to improve nutritive value, use of
bentonite clays to reduce the risks of aflatoxins.
• Developed and disseminated forages tolerant to drought and major
diseases. 22 clones of Napier grass tolerance to Napier stunt and
smut disease have been identified and deployed in Uganda,
Rwanda and Burundi
• Rehabilitation of degraded grazing lands, through termite control,

11. An Account of Advances in STIs
and Applications in Livestock VC in
AfricaAdvances in animal health
• Untangled molecular mechanisms of microbial virulence and discovery of
novel vaccines and other therapeutic agents for the treatment and
prevention of infectious diseases
• Improved management of pathogenic diseases enabled by knowledge on
pathogenic genome sequences coupled untangled pathogen x host
interactions
• Exploiting emerging DNA science of genomics - identification of new
pathogens (new blue tongue like virus is Europe;), or identify new hosts for
known pathogens (eg Ndumu virus in pigs using high through put genome
sequencing platforms (Charles Masembe 2013), or deeper characterization
of local strains variants that may be target for expanded vaccine
development.
• Novel vaccine approaches facilitated by synthetic biology, where by entire
genomes of organisms such as Mycoplasm mycoides is made artificially

12. An Account of Advances in STIs
and Applications in Livestock VC in
Africa
Advances in animal health - Eradication of Rinderpest from Africa
Rinderpest a viral disease of ruminants -
at one point killed 90% of all cattle in
Africa (circa 1880 and continued to
threaten herds with mortalities of 5 –
50% per outbreak, threatening trade and
livelihoods.
The Eradication of rinderpest typifies the
Science, Vaccine development and
delivery, Disease surveillance, Policy,
Inter governmental cooperation that is
needed to tackle profound challenges in
the Livestock value chains.
Lessons from the program can and
should be applied to other diseases –
e.g. Newcastle (chicken), PPR (sheep
and goats), African Swine fever (pigs)
A scene from 1880 outbreak of
Rinderpest

13. The Eradica on of
Rinderpest fr om Af ic a
A G
r
eat Mi
l
es tone
AFRICAN UNION
INTERAFRICAN BUREAU FOR
ANIMAL RESOURCES
Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources(AU-IBAR)
essPark
estlandsRoad
4 (20) 3674 000
3674 341 / 3674 342
e@au-ibar.org
au-ibar.org
The Eradict from Africa A Great Milestone
Underlying Key
STI Messages
• The key Science is on
immune responses of
livestock, and
epidemiology and
pattern of the diseases.
• The key Technologies
are - diagnostics and
thermal stable
vaccines (the latter
allowed workers to
deliver vaccines in
remote hostile
environment without
worrying about ice.
• The Innovations will
have to be in the

14. An Account of Advances in STIs
and Applications in Livestock VC in
AfricaMarketing Issues
• What use is production if the market doesn't exist? What do you do if the
market is not there or is weak? From the livestock revolution and current
demographic trends, its almost obvious that demand for livestock exists and
is growing. But demand is different from a Market. The market is where the
demand and supply are matched and consummated. If the market is weak,
both the demand and supply remain unsatisfied.
• Science of food processing – new methods of delivery that take into account
the nature of the market. What harvest technologies are needed to bring
livestock products to market at affordable prices for the urban poor. Should
we invest in mobile slaughter houses for small ruminants? No need to
transport live animals - -loss of value in transportation, animal welfare
issues, and the costs! What would be needed in such a slaughter house?
What configuration?
• What would be the right time to harvest livestock - what age and what
would be the impact on the value chain and market? Younger animals

15. An Account of Advances in STIs
and Applications in Livestock VC in
AfricaMarketing Issues Cont’d
• Can we use new means of tenderization of meat? Novel enzymes other
than papain? (anecdotal observation, animals infected with tryps (early
stage, first parasitemia) have tender meat? Is this true? A possible
explanation is that tryps produce a lot of papain like (e.g. congopain)
enzymes into the plasma.
• What innovations are needed to deliver eggs, and milk to the markets
(urban market, rural production) - what sanitation issues surround eggs- -
salmonella? What new products - -yourghut, milky drinks to replace or
compete with coca cola! Is there a market for eggshells as a source of
calcium – for people?
• New recipes to expand the role of livestock in nutrition - - especially new or
unconventional livestock?
• Information arena – especially for price discovery – need a trading platform
akin to the stock exchange., connected markets. GIS systems to map all
cattle markets and follow-throughs.
• Biotechnologies for rapid diagnosis in case of movement permits/cross-

16. The Critical Gaps for Africa
and Smart Possible Interventions
Productivity Gap:
• More than 90% of all African farms are of low productivity potential. The are
efficient only when under optimal natural conditions with minimum inputs and
are not suited to modern productions systems. This calls for systematic
upgrade.
Efficiency Gap:
• More than 90 percent of improved livestock breeds perform sub optimally on
farm. For example the Mpwapwa Red cattle developed as a synthetic dairy
breed in Tanzania can produce up to 2000Kg of milk per lactation. But on farm
efficiency is far less than 50%. This calls for improvement in management
practices on farm.
Logistics Gap in supply chain:
• All livestock products are perishable (meat, milk, eggs) resulting in poor
utilization of remotely produce. Innovations in the supply chain - refrigerated
trucks extend shelf life of milk, meat - bring more into the market. Can reduce
long distance transport of live animals, reduce cost of meat culminating into
increased urban consumption.
Biotechnology Gap:
• Supply of improved genetics requires use of artificial insemination (AI). AI

17. The Critical Gaps for Africa
and Smart Possible Interventions
Policy Gap:
• Few African countries have functional or effective and modern livestock policies.
Comprehensive review of livestock policies (e.g. livestock breeding policies) that
spur innovations in livestock sector.
Investment Gap:
• By comparison to Crop agriculture, Livestock sector receives a small fraction of
investment in research, development or recurrent expenditure. 15% sustained
increase in budgetary allocation for 10 years.
Science Gap:
• Livestock production is still dominated by disease . Some such as Rinderpest
have been eradicated. Others such as Newcastle disease of chickens can be
suppressed by vaccination. Research needed to develop – vaccines and
delivery systems that enable rapid deployment. Research needed to combat
infestations with worms and ectoparasites.
Information Gap:
• A wealth of information is locked up in cabinets, heads what is needed is
innovations in digital systems that put actionable information in people hands

18. Integrated data and information systems
that seamlessly connects all stake holders
to deliver actionable information to each
stakeholder has potential to revolutionize
livestock value chain. Connected agents
make informed decisions
Data analysis engines Analysts, agents etc
Information
and Data Gap
Make data
work for
farmers

19. 70% of Africans
are below age 30
We must be
innovative to
engage the
young in
livestock value
chains.
Management,
modern
production skills
Generational Gap in Livestock Sector

20. Expand up
graduate
education,
Innovate in
research and
capacity
development
e.g. rapid
programs
Research
platforms – e.g.
BecA
In the 10 years between 2002
and 2012, Uganda’s livestock
population has almost doubled.
(FAO 2014)
This is a direct consequence of
lack of human capital needed to
increase the productivity or
efficiency per animal
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
30,000,000
35,000,000
40,000,000
Cattle Chickens Goats Pigs Sheep
2002 2012
Africa has 2 billion chickens, and one billion cattle and goats. How many PhD
level livestock Scientists?
Africa spend less than 1% of its GDP on research, and livestock research and
development receives an even smaller fraction of the investment.
Scientists, Science, Innovation
Skills Gap for Livestock Development
Innovate in the research and capacity development arena. Expand graduate
programs at universities, pool resources to conduct research (e.g. Biosciences
platforms such as BecA-ILRi hub shared facility); develop rapid training modules
e.g. animal breeding academies

21. Future Perspectives
On the production side
• Health (vaccines: engineering, surveillance for pathogen
strains)
• Feeds and feeding - new feeds (especially
monogastrics), more feeds, stress resistant forages.
• Product quality and assurance (meat, milk, eggs); age at
slaughter (what would be the impact of a policy that
limits the maximum age at slaughter, better meat, higher
profits? increase profitability?
• Incentives for productive engagement of youth in
livestock - what factors keep young out of livestock
farming/sector.
• Genetics - continue to improve the genetics of adapted
productive genotypes - quick results in chickens,

22. Future Perspectives Cont’d
On the market/policy/cross cutting
• The future of the livestock market is not clear. We
know the demand will grow but what kind of demand
(poultry, pig? or ruminant?) - What interventions
need to be put in place when and where to max the
returns.
• Development of information systems for SMART
agriculture (agricultural informatics)
• Transport systems for livestock products
• Integrating ICT in livestock production

23. Future Perspectives Cont’d
Human and environment health
• What kind of health impact will livestock have?
How to maximise the benefits on human health?
• Scanning potential animals associated
pathogens - to make livestock safer. Is all
livestock safe?
• Diminish stocking density -or damaging impacts
of greenhouse gas emission.

24. Critical Commitments Towards
Improving Livestock Value Chains in
Africa
• Analyze the livestock value chains using a variety of tools and steps,
identifying constraints & opportunities for innovation. Including
research on intra Africa trade barriers
• Register households as business entities rather than as filial units to
inculcate business sense – what tax incentives would help this
cultural transition?
• Build critical engagement among and between chain actors and
between chain actors and chain supporters
• Establish a pan-African Surveillance Livestock Network
• Elaborate and design an effective chain development strategy and
develop the related action plan for transformation of the livestock
sub-sector
• Develop of a comprehensive educational and training plan to
support critical activities

25. Thank you!
Contributors: Drs. Jolly Kabiriizi,
Emmanuel Zziwa and Morris
Agaba