Workshop on Conservation of Indigenous Breeds of Poultry in Bhutan
Aug 18, 2011
The South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Programme, the Department of Livestock and the National Biodiversity Centre, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan, jointly convened a workshop on the Conservation of Indigenous Poultry Breeds of Bhutan on 10th August 2011, at Thimphu Dzongkhag in Bhutan.
Workshop participants included representatives from the National Livestock Breeding Programme, Department of Animal Health, the National Bio-diversity Centre, College of Natural Resources, the National Centre for Poultry Development, Regional Poultry Breeding Centres, Livestock Extension officers from various Districts and the regional and country teams of SA PPLPP from India and Bangladesh.
Presentations were made on the efforts and initiatives taken to conserve and promote indigenous poultry in Bhutan; challenges faced in rearing and marketing products of indigenous poultry breeds; and the production performance of native chicken breeds. The presentation from the SA PPLPP Country team, Bangladesh, focused on interventions that have been initiated to promote and conserve native chicken breeds in Bangladesh. The presentation from India provided an overview of some of the documented good practices on the conservation of indigenous breeds of poultry in the country.
As detailed in one of the presentations at the workshop according to the poultry census of Bhutan, indigenous breeds of poultry which accounted for 83.42% of the total poultry population in the country in 2005 declined to 63.84% in 2009. Speakers also shared their concern on current programmes on livestock development, some of which have primarily focused on intensification and up-scaling of commercial poultry systems. Concerns were also raised regarding the lack of information on the production performance of native species of poultry as also the fact that no community or region raised one particular indigenous breed.
The workshop was followed by field visits organized by the Department of Livestock for the Regional and Country teams of SA PPLPP, to showcase some of the efforts made by local communities in raising indigenous chicken.
Workshop proceedings are currently under development and will be uploaded to the SA PPLPP website over the next few days. A detailed listing of indigenous poultry breeds of Bhutan can be accessed from the following link: #
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Contributed by - Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan and SA PPLPP Coordination Team
