SUNDAY 1 JULY, 2018 – UWI TODAY
13
alypso regularly,
herds, vaccinating
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istry of Agriculture,
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riculture ministry
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separation and testing of very young animals before sexual maturity; and
setting up a cleaning and disinfection plan are all measures she mentions.
One can also set up positive and negative farms for gradual depopulation
and repopulation, she says. The negative herd would be the seed stock to
repopulate the herd, ideally relocated to another location, vaccinated with
RB51, with heifers and calving intenselymanaged, regular tests, and prompt
removal/slaughter of any animals found to be incubating brucellosis before
they can spread it. When breeds of buffalo herds are managed with plans
like this, the incidence of brucellosis can be dramatically reduced.
None of these measures are revelations. It’s just that TT hasn’t done
them. The neglect of buffalypso reflects the decline of the country’s entire
agricultural sector, which no TT government has done much to remedy.
“If we were to do an agricultural census now, we would see that production
in every area has declined by maybe 60-70 percent, with the exception of
poultry production,” noted Leela Rastogi after Minister Rambharat’s speech
on June 1.
Two years ago (in 2016), workers at Mora Valley Farm complained of
bad working conditions there, and alleged there was even a lack of enough
food for the struggling buffalypso herd, especially during the dry season
when there is not enough grass. There are now fears the current Ministry of
Agriculture may slaughter all Mora Valley buffalypso without prior testing
or considering other (admittedly much more expensive) options.
Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat stated to writer Vaneisa
Baksh in an April 2018 UWI Today article that “We cannot develop
buffalypso without addressing the high level of brucellosis positives in the
largest herd [at Mora Valley]. So the Ministry will cull the herd while at the
same time preserving the brucellosis-free geneticmaterial we have at Aripo.”
State says no to financial support
On June 1 at the UWI buffalypso conference, Rambharat made it clear
the State no longer wants to be directly involved in the buffalypso industry,
and said financial support for the industry “will not happen under my
watch.”
He admitted his ministry has never had the capacity to manage any
buffalypso herd properly, and said that “nomodern Government” should be
in the business of “minding livestock” or “selling milk”, which he believed
should be left to farmers with the interest and passion for producing food.
He said: “Maybe a differently shaped ministry, in particular, livestock,
will make those (State buffalypso) farms available to the private sector
for participation.” He said he would welcome news of any private sector
investors today willing to invest in T&T buffalypso, and said that any
committee planning to revitalize the local buffalypso industry should have
financial planners on it.
He conceded that theremay be local prospects for a buffalypso industry,
but seemed to prefer locally-grown chicken as the main protein source,
because he said “chicken currently creates 12,000 direct jobs.” And he noted
that any country except Brazil can send meat to T&T for sale. A conference
participant later noted that any outbreak of bird flu in T&T could wipe out
all our chickens, so investing in other protein sources (like buffalypso) still
makes a lot of sense.
Unlike the current Agriculture Minister, Professor Brinsley Samaroo is
a passionate advocate for investing in buffalypso to help us feed ourselves.
He reminds us that Trinidad exported buffalypso in the 1970s and 1980s
to many countries including Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Costa Rica,
Miami, Mexico and Italy. He states: “By 2004 buffalypsomilk was being used
for the making of yoghurt, ice cream, ghee, and cheeses such as mozzarella,
queso blanco and queso de mano. In the countries to which the animal has
been exported, there are thriving herds, gene banks, profitable meat, milk
and hide industries, all attesting to the genetic engineering pioneered by
Steve Bennett.”
Indeed, according to figures collated by Leela Rastogi, Argentina
currently has 100,000 head of water buffalo; Brazil has 3,500,000; Cuba has
67,300, Venezuela has 350,000, Mexico has 10,000, Colombia has 400,000
while T&T has 2,200. In those other countries, there are now thriving buffalo
and related food industries.
Meanwhile, what has Trinidad done to advance its own buffalypso
sector? Nothing at all.
That may change if buffalypso industry stakeholders and interested
entrepreneurs figure out some ways forward after the in-depth sharing at
the June 1 and 2 UWI buffalypso conference. Conference organizers are
inviting all interested parties to contact them at
to share information and ideas to preserve the buffalypso and develop the
industry in T&T.
As Leela Rastogi put it: “At the end of the day, we say: we cannot drink
oil and smell gas. We have to feed ourselves. Can’t we?”
The Secret is in the Cheese
Italian buffalo expert says farmers have grown
rich from making and selling distinctive,
quality cheeses from buffalo milk
It has anamazingly soft, creamy texture,
and
melts in your mouth so easily. Mozzarella di
bufala (or buffalo mozzarella) is named quite
literally— it’s cheesemade fromwater buffalo
milk, specifically the milk of Mediterranea
Italiana buffalo. It is both delicious and
healthy, and it’s often called “white gold” or
“the pearl of the table.” Perhaps, some day, we
can make our own T&T “pearl of the table” –
from homegrown buffalypso milk.
This was part of the message from Dr
Antonio Borghese, the guest speaker at the
opening night of the Buffalypso Conference on June 1. Dr Borghese
is an Italian veterinarian with more than 50 years of experience in
animal production and health, and has travelled the world to help other
countries improve different aspects of their buffalo industries.
Dr Borghese talked about how the Italian-made Mozarella cheese
known as “Mozzarella di Bufala Campana” has had DOC – “Controlled
Designation of Origin” – status in Italy since 1993, which means that
it may only be produced with a traditional recipe in select locations.
Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is one of Italy’s gastronomic
products par excellence, and is known and exported throughout
the world. According to Wikipedia, Buffalo mozzarella is a €300m
(US$330m) a year industry in Italy, which produces around 33,000
tonnes of it every year, with 16 percent sold abroad (mostly in the
European Union).
In addition to being the author of the international bible on buffalo
rearing, “Buffalo Production and Research,” Dr Borghese coordinates
the Food and Agriculture Organization Inter-Regional Cooperative
Research Network on Buffalo. And he is the General Secretary of the
International Buffalo Federation (IBF), which organizes aWorld Buffalo
Congress every three years. In this latter capacity, he actively coordinates
and promotes buffalo development projects in countries which follow
international agreements, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hungary,
Turkey, Iran, China and Indonesia.
Dr Borghese came to T&T at his own expense, and his enthusiasm
for the food potential of the buffalo was infectious and backed up by
many anecdotes as well as statistics on how invaluable buffaloes have
been in fighting hunger and providing valuable food – especially from
dairy products – all over the world. He said according to FAO figures,
buffalo milk is now 13% of milk sold in the world, and milk demand is
increasing annually by 10%.
Despite its higher butterfat content than cow’s milk, water buffalo
milk is healthier in many ways than traditional cow’s milk. Water
buffalo milk has 11 percent higher protein than cow’s milk, as well as
9 percent more calcium and 37 percent more iron, says writer Brittany
Shoot writing about the water buffalo dairy industry which is growing
in the US
). Water buffalo milk is
also lower in cholesterol, say food experts. Its creamier texture makes
it good for making cheeses.
Dr Borghese said that in neighbouring Cuba, which imported
T&T buffalypso many years ago, there are now 67,246 head of Cuban
buffalypso, a breed developed from crossbreeding T&T buffalypso with
Italian buffalo breeds. And he urged T&T to do something similar: to
create a T&T local dairy buffalypso breed through cross-breeding, using
semen from breeds best known for producing animals with excellent
milk yield and quality.
Dr Borghese cheerfully challenged T&T to develop a new economy
based on the agribusiness of cheese production – not only cheeses from
buffalypso, but also cheeses from goats and sheep, because growing and
making our own high quality, high value food products makes a lot of
food security sense.
(Shereen Ann Ali)
For more information
or to contact
buffalypso-related food industry advocates and
stakeholders, contact:
Dr Antonio Borghese
