2 March 2023 - Flipbook - Page 43
FARMWEEK
JANUARY 28 2021
43
GLOBALNEWS
Measuring animal health burdens
A
NIMAL
health
leaders
and
researchers
from
the
Global
Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs)
programme have secured US$7
million (£5.1 million) from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation and UK’s Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Ofce to
rollout a framework on measuring animal
health burdens and their impacts on human
lives and economies.
The information provided by GBADs
will guide public policy and private sector
strategy, contributing to improving animal
health and welfare more effectively. It will
also be a basis for further academic research.
Across the world livestock production and
aquaculture are critical to human nutrition
and health.
These animals play critical roles in society,
providing income and food, but also clothing,
building materials, fertiliser and draught
power.
However, the presence of endemic and
emerging diseases, as well as other factors,
negatively impact them, jeopardising their
contributions.
Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars
are invested globally on disease mitigation
in order to improve livestock health and
productivity. Yet, a systematic way to
determine the burden of animal disease on
the health and wellbeing of people is not
available.
It is still unknown how the burden is
apportioned between smallholders and the
commercial sector, or across regions and
FRAMEWORK: Funding has been secured to rollout a framework on measuring animal
health burdens and their impacts on human lives and economies.
gender.
Consequently, decision makers lack the
information to accurately assess whether
their investments target the animal health
issues that have the most signicant impact
on human wellbeing.
The GBADs programme, led by the University
of Liverpool, the World Organisation for
Animal Health (OIE) and a partnership of
international institutions, will enable the
examination of animal health and the disease
burden from a different perspective.
By assessing the global burden in economic
terms, the programme will help identify the
individuals and communities which are the
most impacted, demonstrating how animal
health is intrinsically linked to agricultural
productivity, smallholder household income,
the empowerment of women and the equitable
provision of a safe, affordable, nutritious diet.
“The GBADs programme is a key part of
our commitment to deploying our research
capacity toward the welfare of humankind,”
said Professor Dame Janet Beer, ViceChancellor, University of Liverpool.
“The GBADs programme is crucial in
building a world with zero hunger, good
health, and equality for all, an urgent mission
in which we are proud to play our part.
“We are grateful for the support of the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation and UK’s
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Ofce, who are supporting this work in
partnership with the OIE.
“Together, we will realise a brighter future
for animal and human wellbeing.”
Dr Monique Eloit, OIE Director General,
said: “It is more evident now for everyone
that animal health and public health are
interconnected and play an essential role in
building a sustainable and healthy planet,
especially, if we succeed in incorporating
the environmental and socioeconomic
components.”
In a world where 1.25 billion people
work in agriculture, this programme will
have a positive impact on the sustainable
development goals, contributing to zero
hunger, good health and well-being, gender
equality, decent work and economic
growth; and responsible consumption and
production.
Drones on the frontline in defending
east Africa against swarms of locusts
D
Vertical farm close to the
Vatican marks first harvest
A
N indoor vertical farm built
close to the Vatican has
celebrated its rst harvest.
It was built on 60 hectares of
land southwest of Rome and is
owned by a Catholic foundation
that provides education and work
opportunities to young refugees.
The Taiwanese-designed project
was constructed after just three
months of preparation.
The Vatican is Taiwan’s only
European diplomatic ally, with
Taiwanese Ambassador Mathew
Lee touring the facility earlier this
month to mark the milestone.
He said the project had been
inspired by Pope Francis’ call
for a more active response to
environmental problems and
climate change.
The farm uses vertically stacked
shelves to grow plants through
more efcient management of
temperature, irrigation, and
lighting.
It uses less land and water, and
produces higher yields with fewer
fertilisers and pesticides.
Taiwan, meanwhile, is seeking to
use smart agriculture to turn the
island into one of the world’s great
fruit and vegetable providers
within the next 30 years.
Its sees the future of food
growing as based in factories
served by robots rather than
land based, and sees tomorrow’s
farmers employing solar and
advanced light technology,
chemicals, gene editing, drones,
smart sensors, software,
algorithms, data mining and big
data.
As with the Vatican project,
it is already exporting such
technologies, with the 14-story
vertical farm in Copenhagen,
Denmark, built using a blueprint
of patented technologies from
Taiwan’s YesHealth Group.
The group was the brainchild of
serial tech entrepreneur Winston
Tsai. He founded YesHealth AgriBiotechnology Co Ltd in 2011
and six years later established
YesHealth iFarm in Taoyuan’s
Luzhu District.
RONES could become the
frontline defence against the
swarms of deseert locust
expected to devastate east Africa in
the coming months.
Favourable breeding conditions
are predicted to result in a further
season of destruction as the insects
move acrose the continent eating all
in their path.
The smart agtech company
XAG says it has the answer –
using agriculture drones to spray
pesticide during the night as a
compliment to the existing ground
and aerial control measures in
place.
Climate change is being blamed
for the increased locust problem,
with prolonged spells of rain over
the desert creating moist, humid
lands and ourishing vegetation –
ideal for the swarms to breed.
The Greater Horn of Africa,
including Ethiopia, Kenya and
Somalia, is currently the mostaffected region having already
witnessed the arrival of more
immature swarms.
The locusts have already laid
eggs across the region, leading to
multiple generations to be born
during February and March.
The drones can provide a cheaper
and more effective way of delivering
chemical and biological pesticides
with low-level passes over affected
areas.
According to XAG, the locust are
too densely packed during the day
to allow drones to operate safely,
but they can be used to precision
target the wingless nymphs and
hopper bands at the early stage, or
attack the ying adults after they
settle down after sunset.
Fitted with four rotary atomisers,
XAG’s agricultural drones can
DEFENCE: XAG agricultural drone conducting unmanned spraying
operations in Zambia.
operate fully autonomous on a
predetermined path and deliver
uniform sprays three metres above
the targeted locust swarms.
This means that less sophisticated
skills of the eld operators are
required, while reducing the
quantities of pesticides used to
minimum level.
The
Zambian
ministry
of
agriculture is likely to the rst body
to employ the drones in the nighttime operations.
In 2019, XAG worked with Zambiabased company Sunagri to provide
drone interventions that yielded
success to manage the cropdevouring fall armyworm.
Fraser Zhang, the owner of Sunagri
Zambia, said: “During daytime,
the locust swarms spread out over
an extremely large area and stay
mobile in the air for long periods.
“Their dynamic movement makes
them much more difcult to be
contained.
“But at night, what we would aim
for are static objects which can be
accurately sprayed.”
The Desert locusts are one
of the species of short-horned
grasshoppers which have been
considered the world’s most
destructive migratory pest.
They usually form into a swarm
whose density can reach up to
80 million per square kilometre,
eating massive amounts of crops
and vegetations and leaving people
inicted with food losses.
The locusts can reproduce
exponentially, and if left unchecked,
a group of its population would
multiply 20-fold in only three
months and grow 400 times in half
a year.
Mr Zhang added: “The western
province of Zambia is worst-hit by
the locusts.
“It is anticipated that the mature
swarms have already laid eggs at
this point, which will hatch and
lead to a new wave of invasions in
coming months.”