Brazilian and African Researchers Unite for the Sake of Food Security

Tecnologias que auxiliam os pequenos agricultores familiares a reduzir os custos da criação de galinhas poedeiras por meio da substituição dos ingredientes utilizados na ração, sem que isso comprometa a qualidade e volume na produção de ovos. Este é o principal objetivo dos estudos desenvolvidos por um grupo de pesquisadores do Brasil e da África, por meio da plataforma Market Place.

Technologies that assist the small family farmers reduce the costs of raising laying hens through the substitution of ingredients used in the feeds, without comprising the quality and volume of egg production. This is the principal objective of the studies being developed by a group of researchers from Brazil and Africa through the Market Place platform.

This article was originally translated from Portuguese.  Click here to read more from Portal Brasil.

In 2012, researched from Embrapa Pantanal, produced by Raquel Juliano and Frederico Lisitia, along with Professor Christian Keambou Tiambo, of the University of Buea – located in Cameroon, Africa – developed and approved the project, "Development and sustainable breeding of local chicken for improved productivity under local alternative feed management system and health control." The project promotes the application of Brazilian research results about nutrition, sanitation and animal production in small rural properties in Africa.

Currently, the group formed by 300 small African producers, under the coordination and supervision of Professor Christian and his team, were able to apply good agricultural practices to egg production. First, farmers received the laying birds for raising and, shortly, the tests with alternative sources of food, based on cassava and moringa, will start.

According to Frederico Lisita, who along with Raquel Juliano conducted the research in Brazil, the idea of the project emerged from observing the difficulties smaller settlements faced in the Pantanal region in providing nutritionally-adequate food for chicken raising. "We saw that the high cost of existing diets on the market and the impossibility of producing corn and soybeans in the region, ingredients that make up the basis of the diets of the animals," explained Frederico.

After some analysis of literature and experiences from the field with the use of alternative feeds with other animal species, we realized that it would be possible to substitute those major items in the diet of laying chickens. "Initially, we were working with cassava roots and moringa leaves, which had already been used to supplement cattle feed due to the high power of protein and quality of the amino acids found in these plants," says Frederico.

According to the researchers, the proposal to apply this idea to a study in Africa added strength to the project, since food security is an underlying theme and corn and soybeans are noble grains used primarily for human consumption – causing the food for animal production to compete with the nutrition needed by African populations.

Exchange between researchers

Recently, Professor Christian paid a visit to Brazil, and during his visit to the Embrapa Pantanal presented information and results already obtained by the experiment to Brazilian researchers. According to Professor Christian, the activities of the project already signal good results. Together with the Brazilian team, they outlined the new goals and challenges for the coming years.

According to Raquel Juliano, the project also has a stage of identification and genetic characterization of the indigenous breeds that are working in Cameroon. "The shares will mostly likely be held in conjunction with the University of Cordoba in Spain, with whom the Embrapa already partners on other projects, and will provide the necessary support to the genetics laboratory of Embrapa Pantanal, which is still in the implementation phase of structuring."

Brazilian version

The initiative was so successful that Brazilian researchers approved the CNPq in 2013, a similar project to be developed entirely in Brazil. With the support of the Bradesco Foundation – represented by the partnership with the Bodoquen Teaching unit, located 50 kilometers from the Miranda municipality – the Empraba Pantanal team will implement an experiment to test the performance of laying birds using different levels of cassava, moringa, and bocaiuva as the base for their diet to substitute corn and soybeans.

Beyond these partnerships, Raquel reveals the support of the UFMS in the analysis of the quality of egg production and the health of the animals, and other actions. "The developments of these actions that will be taken in this new national stage of the project involve different institutions. We intend to train students in technical courses and post graduates, in addition to interacting with the communities that will produce the feed ingredients to be tested," concluded the researcher.

Market Place

Market Place is an initiative with Brazilian, African, Latino American, and Caribbean farmers to reunite institutions and researchers with the goal of developing collaborative research projects. According to the researcher Raquel Juliano, the idea is to develop projects that address family farms that benefit these countries. "The financial support for these projects is done by various institutions, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations, and shall have shared leadership among the institutions of the involved countries."

Find out more about food security by accessing the webcast for the Brazil Institute's event on the topic: The Future of Food, Climate, and the Natural World: A Conversation With Jonathan Foley

This article was translated by Layne Vandenberg, Staff Intern with the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center. 

Photo courtesy of  CIAT via Flickr.