Sustainable Management of Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

"There is an urgent need to continue exploring innovative ways of ensuring sustainable utilization of the animal genetic resources as highlighted in our regional and global frameworks". These were the resounding words of CCARDESA Board Member Dr Keneuoe Lehloenya on 15th April 2021 at the Virtual SADC Regional Meeting on Management of Animal Genetic Resources(AnGR).

Dr Lehloenya was among the many participants who attended the virtual meeting themed "The role of animal genetic resources for food and agriculture under a changing climate". 

The meeting's primary purpose was to review progress on the SADC regional implementation of the Global Plan of Action for AnGR (GPA-AnGR) and climate-relevant AnGR-related activities of the Sub-Regional Focal Point.  The specific objectives of the meeting were to review and note the progress made since the establishment of the SADC regional genebank; Get an update on regional AnGR initiatives on livestock value chains and to discuss and form regional positions on important issues relevant for the SADC Livestock Technical Committee (SADC-LTC) and the 11th session of the Inter-governmental Technical Working Group for animal genetic resources for food and agriculture (ITWG-AnGR) which is to held virtually on 19-21 May, 2021. The SADC technical committee meets annually to discuss issues of regional cooperation and integration in the livestock sector, and reports to the Committee of Ministers responsible for Agriculture and Food Security and/or the SADC Council of Ministers.

The main concern of this meeting is to address the disappearance of valuable livestock resources, some of which possess unique genes which need to be conserved to meet future needs. The disappearance is due to various causes, including climate-induced events such as droughts, floods, diseases and pests. Though livestock provides a unique solution towards building the agricultural sector's resilience, it is also a contributor to global warming through the production of greenhouse gases. This realization calls for pragmatism to optimize systems to ensure the sustainability of the sector and the environment.

In line with this mandate, CCARDESA working with the African Union's Inter African Bureau on Animal Genetic Resources (AU-IBAR), jointly implemented regional interventions among which led to the establishment of the SADC regional genebank under the recently ended EU-funded project on Strengthening the Capacity of African Countries to Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of African Animal Genetic Resources. Botswana at the Department of Agricultural Research hosts this newly furnished livestock genebank with the state-of-the-art equipment to preserve and conserve livestock genetics materials for all SADC members. This bank, however, is not yet fully operational to allow member states to send their materials to the regional repository as the legal framework (MoU) guiding its operations is yet to be finalized. Demonstrating the seriousness SADC is attaching to this matter, the SADC Ministers responsible for agriculture and food security approved a regional animal genetic resources conservation and utilisation strategy in 2020. the standard operating procedures for the collection, handling, transport and storage of animal genetic materials have also been developed.

Dr Lehloenya intimated that there could be no food security in the region and indeed in Africa without embracing sustainable practices that optimize the use of the increasingly limited resources to meet the growing regional food demand. She also reminded participants of the Regional policy frameworks that have been promulgated to promote agricultural productivity and production while minimizing the negative impact on the environment. 

Dr Lehloenya urged the participants not to lose sight of the need to think about innovations that can be deployed to reduce livestock's negative impact on the environment. She noted with appreciation that the meeting would deliberate on livestock-related climate mitigation as it is a  subject which is increasingly debated in the public discourse. 

The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse gases (GRA) which has partneredd with CCARDESA and its representative, Dr Ackim Mwapealso presented on their regional interventions related raising awareness and capacity towards  low-emissions livestock. Dr Simbarashe Sibanda of the Food, Agriculture Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) shared on the importance of measuring the emissions from livestock and that the regional stakeholder have established that you could not mitigate what you can't measure. They shared with participants findings of a GRA supported study conducted in 37 countries in Africa twelve of which were from the SADC region where they found out that most countries were still using the basic 1st tier type of emission factors extrapolated on the basis of livestock populations only. In the SADC region, only two countries (Namibia and South Africa were using the Tier 2 methodology. Therefore, there was need for more countries to move towards using the Tier 2 factors which takes into account other variables such breed type, feed type etc. They also discovered that some countries did not have up-to-date livestock statistics were instead using old livestock data dating as way back as the 1980s.. They reported that six countries have so far shown interest in collecting livestock data using the Tier 2 type approach.

The AU-IBAR Live2Africa Project, represented by Dr Edward Nengomasha and Dr Mary Mbole Kariuki, also shared how the projectis aligned to the livestock development strategy (LIDeSA). The main aim of the project is to empower the livestock sector in Africa and  for the SADC region, the focus was on the red meat and live animalvalue chain.. 

Among the issues agreed at the meeting was the need for continuous engagement with stakeholders and to prepare a regional position paper on identified regional issues along the themes of the GPA-AnGR for articulation during the 11th session of ITWG-AnGR; to invigorate implementation by SADC countries of the now approved regional AnGR strategy; to convene a forum to elaborate the governance of the regional AnGR genebank; to build capacity towards enabling more countries towards using Tier 2 reporting status; as well as to improve livestock data and mobilise resources for AnGR work.

This important meeting drew participants from the SADC secretariat, COMESA Secretariat, FARNPAN, GRA, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Breeder Societies, Universities, Researchers, private sector actors National Coordinators for AnGRs from the SADC/COMESA member states. This meeting was convened by CCARDESA in preparation for the SADC-LTC meeting that will take place later in the month of April hosted by the SADC secretariat. During his closing remarks, Mr Andrew Chamisa, the Zimbabwe National Coordinator for AnGR thanked all participants for attending the meeting and thanked CCARDESA for organizing such a fruitful meeting.