Institutional updates Welcome to the first edition of ILRI’s South Asia newsletter! This newsletter is meant to share key updates of ILRI’s activities in South Asia with stakeholders, partners and donors. Since joining ILRI, I feel proud to present the major activities and achievements of the institute in using science to promote livestock development in South Asia and other parts of the world. I hope you will enjoy reading the newsletter and thank you for your strong support to ILRI South Asia. Learn more about our work at www.asia.ilri.org. If you have any feedback please contact ilri-delhi@cgiar.org Habibar Rahman Regional representative for ILRI South Asia ILRI and Indian officials strengthen collaboration in livestock development The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have strengthened their long-term partnership through high-profile visits in 2018. Chhabilendra Roul, secretary of ICAR and Joykrushna Jena, deputy director general (Fisheries) ICAR had a week-long visit to ILRI headquarters in Nairobi (Kenya) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in February 2018. They met with Jimmy Smith, ILRI’s director general, and other senior officials at the institute. They also visited different ILRI departments and programs to explore future collaborative opportunities between the two organizations. In a follow up visit to India in March, Shirley Tarawali, assistant director general at ILRI, held discussions with Trilochan Mohapatra, secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and director general of ICAR; Joykrushna Jena, deputy director general of fisheries and animal science at ICAR and Ajay Singh, ICAR deputy director general of agricultural extension in Delhi. They reviewed ongoing ICAR-ILRI projects, explored ways of scaling up research findings, and planned for future collaborations. Antimicrobial resistance, climate change, genomics and capacity development were identified as priority focus areas in future collaboration. ILRI is working with ICAR to identify projects and sources that can leverage ILRI’s long-term presence in the country to support livestock development in India. Chhabilendra Roul, secretary of ICAR and Joykrushna Jena, deputy director general (fisheries) at ICAR visited ILRI 12-17 February 2018 (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). ILRI and Odisha Government sign agreement on a new livestock feeds project An agreement was signed between ILRI and the government of Odisha to start a three-year collaborative project titled ‘Feed and Fodder Production in Different Agro-Climatic Zones and its Utilization for Livestock of Odisha.’ The project will map the feed and fodder supply and demand, improve feeding practices and develop the capacity of key players in the feed value chain in the state. Iain Wright, deputy director general, ILRI signed a memorandum in the presence of Honorable chief minister, Shri Naveen Patnaik. Other senior officials in attendance included minister of agriculture and farmers’ empowerment and fisheries and animal resources development, Shri Pradeep Kumar Maharathy, chief secretary; Shri Aditya Prasad Padhi, development commissioner- cum-additional chief secretary and secretary planning and convergence; Shri Balakrishnan, agriculture production commissioner; Shri Gagan Bihari Dhal, principal secretary of finance; and Shri Bishnupada Sethi, animal resources development secretary. From left: Iain Wright, ILRI’s deputy director general and Pratap Chandra Dash, Odisha Veterinary Services director sign an official agreement (photo credit: ILRI). ILRI South Asia newsletter Issue 1, November 2018 Livestock feed project benefits dairy farmers in Odisha State The ‘Feed and Fodder Production in different Agro- climatic zones and its Utilization for Livestock of Odisha’ project, which is funded by the government of Odisha through its Fisheries and Animal Resource Development Department, has launched a new mobile application and mobile SMS portal, which was developed to help farmers in the state improve their livestock feeding practices. Officials from the state’s Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department and ILRI toured the state-run Pipil Fodder Farm to see research in new varieties of fodder and crops such as Jowar (COFS-29, COFS-31, and CSH24MF), dual-purpose maize (Nk-6240 and Nk-30) and hybrid Napier grass (Co5, Sampoorna and Co-3) which will provide feed and fodder to farmers in the different agro-climatic zones in Odisha. A fodder field in Odisha (photo credit: ILRI). South-South collaboration in tackling antimicrobial resistance in Asia Over 50 experts from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam have made a commitment to work together to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to advance agricultural development and human health in Asia. The pledge was made at an international conference on ‘Intensifying Food Systems and Health: Emphasis on Antimicrobial Use in Agricultural Systems’ in Jaipur, India, in April. The conference participants also discussed ways of strengthening long-term partnerships around food safety systems and health research in the region. Participants of the ‘Intensifying Food Systems and Health: Emphasis on Antimicrobial Use in Agricultural Systems’ conference (photo credit: ILRI/Dinesh). ILRI and Assam Agricultural University working to strengthen Assam’s livestock sector Habibar Rahman, ILRI’s regional representative for South Asia, and Apurba Chakraborty, director of research at Assam Agricultural University (AAU), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in July in Guwahati for joint livestock research to reduce poverty and improve nutritional security among the largely rural Assamese population. AAU and ILRI have been working together on different livestock-based projects since 2006. The new MoU between the two organizations will help to further strengthen, shape and guide their collaborative work in future. The agreement was signed by Habibar Rahman, and Apurba Chakraborty, director of research at AAU (photo credit: ILRI). The Nepal Agricultural Research Council and ILRI enter an agreement in livestock development A new agreement between ILRI and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) has opened the door for the two organizations to start collaborating in livestock research for development in Nepal. Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI, and Baidya Nath Mahto, executive director, NARC, signed the agreement. Discussion between ILRI – ICAR for collaboration workplan 2019 – 2022 In August 2018 a meeting was organized at ILRI office in New Delhi to finalize the collaborative workplan between ILRI and ICAR. The discussions centered on developing collaborative research proposals in the prioritized areas of AMR, climate change, genomics and capacity development and the workplan for 2019-2022. Rahman Habibar, ILRI regional representative for South Asia, expressed his desire that the work plan will be finalized during the next visit of ILRI’s director general to India in November 2018. Exploring livestock research collaboration opportunities in Bangladesh In September 2018, Habibar Rahman, ILRI regional representative for South Asia, visited Bangladesh and made a keynote speech on animal agriculture at the 6th National Convention and International Seminar 2018 on ‘Vision 2041: Future of Food and Sustainable Farming in Bangladesh.’ The seminar was hosted by the Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh. Rahman also explored collaboration opportunities with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Department of Livestock Services, Government of Bangladesh, and the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute. Exploring collaboration opportunities in visit to India foot-and-mouth disease research facility Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI along with Habibar Rahman, ILRI’s regional representative for South Asia, visited the International Centre for Foot & Mouth Disease (ICFMD), a state-of-the-art high containment BSL-3 Ag laboratory facility in Bhubaneswar, India. The facility, which was launched on 1 April 2017, is a constituent laboratory of ICAR directorate of foot and mouth disease (FMD). This facility is expected to expand its work to other countries in South Asia. The visit by Smith and Rahman explored ways researchers at the facility can partner with FMD researchers in Africa. Jimmy Smith (in front of computer), ILRI’s director general was at the International Center for Foot and Mouth Disease in Bhubaneswar, India (photo credit: ILRI). Project updates Artificial insemination for pigs launched in Nagaland On 7 October 2017, the technology of swine reproduction through Artificial Insemination was launched in the state of Nagaland, India for the first time benefiting both swine livestock producers and the quality of swine. The facility resulted from joint efforts and collaboration among the department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, ILRI, National Research Centre on pigs (NRCP). The program is funded by the Tata Trusts. Animal health experts discuss approaches for tackling Brucellosis in India Towards the end of the peri-urban human animal environment interface (PeriMilk) project that ILRI has been implementing in India together with the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Indian universities, ILRI invited 30 brucellosis and animal health and zoonoses experts to a one-day workshop in New Delhi on 26 October 2017. Participants agreed that managing brucellosis in India will require the strengthening of diagnostic laboratory capacities, improved diagnostic tests and vaccines and more awareness creation about the disease among farmers and the public. Other areas of focus should include additional research on the disease and its impacts on humans and different species of ruminants, better management of infected animals and enhancing vaccination programs. The stakeholders in the meeting, particularly ICMR and ICAR agreed to enhance their collaboration in tackling the disease. Group photo at the workshop (photo credit: ILRI/Roma Oli). Government of Assam and ILRI to work together for rural transformation In March 2018, ILRI and the Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services Society of the Government of Assam, known as the ARIAS Society, started a collaboration in the informal dairy and piggery sub-component of the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART) which is financed by the World Bank. ILRI is providing technical support to APART activities including facilitating transformation of informal dairy sector and developing capacity on laboratory technologies for milk safety and quality assurance under the Food Safety Standard Act for India (FSSAI). The institute is also supporting the project’s work in improving livestock productivity, strengthening the pork value chain, developing capacity in lab technologies for food safety and quality assurance to comply with FSSAI. Sidhartha Singh (left), APART project managing director, and Habibar Rahman (right exchange the signed agreement for the APART project, which is funded by the World Bank (photo credit: ILRI). The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and ILRI working together in livestock feed development Earlier this year, the signing of a memorandum of understanding marked the beginning of a research collaboration between the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), a national research centre under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and ILRI. Under the formal agreement, the two organizations will work together in exploring how biofuel technologies can be used to upgrade livestock feedstuff. They will also develop pilot feed treatment units for upgrading livestock feeds. Habibar Rahman, ILRI’s regional representative for South Asia (fourth left) and Srivari Chandrasekhar, director of IICT (third left) at the signing of the agreement between IICT and ILRI (photo credit: ILRI). Capacity development Training in fast-tracking scientific outputs The PeriMilk project which is co-implemented by ILRI and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) has trained 19 researchers in ‘Fast-tracking scientific outputs’ in Guwahati, India in February 2018. Johanna Lindahl and Emmanuel Muunda from ILRI led the training in scientific writing and reference management in scientific writing at the write-shop. Training veterinarians to improve dairy animal performance in Karnataka ILRI has trained more than 30 field veterinarians and district heads of the Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry, of the government of Karnataka, India, on various feed-based technologies and practices that could improve dairy animal performance and reduce yield gap. The training was part of the collaborative project between the government of Karnataka and CGIAR centres, led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Veterinarians from four districts of Karnataka (Bidar, Chikballapur, Dharward and Udupi) were exposed to feed-based intensification (through cultivar selection of dual-purpose crops, chopping and supplementation). They were also trained in ways of addressing fodder deficits by linking fodder surplus-deficit areas (through feed processing entrepreneurial ventures) and fodder preservation in the form of silage and hay. Ali Khan from ILRI explaining the trainees the process of silage making (photo credit: ILRI/Ravi Devulapalli). ILRI thanks all donors that globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. This publication is copyrighted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. November 2018 The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to improve food and nutritional security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, it has regional or country offices and projects in East, South and Southeast Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. ilri.org CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its research is carried out by 15 research centres in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. cgiar.org