Organisation of the Information SYSTEM IN THE GOAT SECTOR.

SOME OBSERVATIONS AND PROPOSALS FROM AN ANALYSIS OF THE FRENCH SITUATION

 

Organisation du système d'information dans le secteur caprin.

Réflexions et propositions à partir de la situation en France

 

J. - P. Dubeuf (1), G.  Freund (2), 

 

(1)    Centre International de Ressources et de Valorisation de l’Information dans les  filières laitières des petits ruminants (CIRVAL), BP 5,  20250 Corte, France

(2)    Centre de Ressources et de Documentation Caprine (CRDC/ITPLC), BP 49, 17700 Surgères, France

 

SUMMARY :

From an inventory of the organisation and needs of information in the French goat sector,  some proposals for a best co-ordination between the several initiatives in this country are under construction. The French situation gives useful elements for other caprine situations. It emphasises particularly that strengthening both the functions of technological survey and creating local interfaces is probably needed for small or isolated animal sectors like the goat sectors in many countries.

 

Key words : Information, animal production system, extension services, goat,small ruminants,  technology transfer, technological watching.

 

Résumé :

à partir d'un inventaire des dispositifs de diffusion d'information et d'une enquête sur les besoins  d'information  dans le secteur caprin en France, des propositions pour une meilleure articulation entre les initiatives est en cours de formalisation. Cette démarche sert de base à des réflexions plus générales sur le besoin de renforcer à la fois les fonctions de veille technologique et de créer des relais locauxdans des secteurs d'élevage de petite taille ou isolé comme le sont les secteurs caprins.

 

Mots Clés : Information,, services de développement, caprin, petits ruminants,  transfert de technologie, veille.

 

 

Introduction

 

Nowadays, it is usual to say that information is a major function at all levels of our societies. With globalisation of exchanges, economical development would be directly related to the availability of information.

In all countries, goat breeding keeps a small and rather marginal activity, even in France where it got a high level of performances, development and organisation without any equivalent wherever in the world. It is probably an exception around the world where, in spite of a numerous scientific production (Morand-Fehr, P., 1996), the goat production is a side activity in many countries with few structured extension services. Thus, around the Mediterranean Sea, it is often an activity for low favoured areas with high natural or structural constraints.

By taking the example of the French situation which has been studied specifically, the  objective of this communication is to show that an organisation of the Information system could help the goat sectors to overhead their difficulties and strengthen extension and training  services.

 

 

The FRENCH INFORMATION SYSTEM, DIVERSified AND SPECIALISED SERVICES.

 

Recently, the professional representatives of the French sector asked for a consultation on valorisation of technical information to better know how the several regional or national technical and experimental actions are transferred to the goat keepers. In 1998, a technical national goat meeting has been organised; the need for harmonisation and organisation of the functioning of interfaces and for concerted actions between initiatives was underlined. Synergies are necessary for a better utilisation of limited financial funding and human means in such a small size sector. To better know the situation, an inventory of the several structures of transfer and information has been realised thanks to a partnership between Institut de l’Elevage, CRDC, CIRVAL (Dubeuf J-P. et al, 1999).

 

Inventory of the information services 

 

Data basis and national specialised documentation Services

 

2 specialised and complementary services are proposed to the extension services and operators of the goat sector.

 

The Goat Resource and Documentation Centre (CRDC) is a specialised Documentation Centre dedicated to all French and foreign operators in goat sectors on technical and scientific information: nutrition, genetics and selection, reproduction, pathology, goat milk and cheese quality, dairy technology... Created by the National French « filiere » and more precisely by the West - Centre inter-professional organisations, CRDC is now a common Service between ENILIA[1]and ITPLC[2]. A documentary data basis with a consultation service is proposed to users. A newsletter « L’égide » is published every 3 months.

CIRVAL[3], are a Resource Centre and a networking organisation. Its mission is to gather, classify and valorise appraised information from several Resource Centres and identified competencies. An international organisation with a diversified partnership (institutional, professional and scientific), CIRVAL is located in Corsica and its services are proposed not only in France but also in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and all over the world. It takes specifically in account, the territorial dimension and new functions of animal production (local development, diversification, and production system changes). An important part of the documentation activity is devoted to economic situation, social changes and technico-economical results in the sheep and goat dairy sectors. One main priority is to promote utilisation and appropriation of New Technologies of Information (N.T.I.) by operators. For instance, data bases are proposed through full text scanned documentation directly available on CD-ROMS or on Internet. CIRVAL publishes also a three months newsletter, « Tintenna ».

 

Besides, « Institut de l’Elevage » is the applied research and transfer French Institute in animal production. Their activity is not limited to the small ruminants sector but they have an important and brought up to date documentation on goats. This service is available to all the members of the Institute wherever in France but it has not been opened anymore to external consultation since the documentary service has been suppressed, a few years ago.

  The three organisations are related each other through conventions that formalise collaborations and exchanges to strengthen complementarity. Diversity of localisation is a positive element of efficiency and opening of the goat sector on a diversified information as are the specific approaches of each organisation.

 

Periodical publications and news letters

 

Only one publication, "la chèvre", published every two months by « Institut de l'Elevage » has a national impact for all operators of the sector. It is widely spread in France and is a reference abroad. Except "la chèvre", the CRDC and CIRVAL newsletters which have a more specialised public, and « L’année économique caprine[4] », also published by «Institut de l'Elevage », there is no specialised publication with a national diffusion.

 

On the other hand, many technical sheets or local newsletters are published more or less regularly by extension services (33 identified publications). They have generally few pages; the sustainability of these publications is diverse but often very short (only few issues) or scarcely spread (often less than 100).

 

Technical sheets and activity reports of networks of reference farms

 

Networks of reference farms have been organised in the main regions of goat production (Poitou-Charentes, Centre, PACA[5], Midi Pyrénées, Rhône-Alpes...) and collective actions gather a wide regional partnership: CapSud for the southern regions, PEP[6] Caprin in Rhône -Alpes...). Synthesis and transfer sheets are regularly published and very often, publication or pilotage committees are set up. Besides, most of the technicians publish also technical sheets with local references without necessary a previous validation.

 

 A synthetic information  to be shared is required

 

A complementary investigation has confirmed that a global and precise information is needed but has also shown that operators take an interest in very diverse technical, economical, scientific, legal or commercial information. Data basis are few quoted as sources of information, which could be explained by the lack of time and training for technicians and breeders to get an easy access to these tools. Furthermore, they feel uneasy to find clear answer their complex interrogations thanks to a data basis and direct documentation services. The need for valorised and available information by the mean of synthesis, short notes, training sheets is always yet required.

Proposals to improve exchanges of information in the French goat sector have yet to be structured and approved but some of them can already be noticed:

- Organising forums and telematic conferences (general and/or thematic) between technicians and using the NTI.

- Working groups from diverse regions and structures to build a program of synthetic publications.

- Improving the impact of documentary basis with animations in the identified regional Resource Centres.

 

Some USEFUL STATEMENTS FOR ALL GOAT Sectors

 

Technological and strategic watching is needed for all goat sectors

 

The results of the complementary investigation are about the French situation but most of the regions with goat production are probably concerned as in most of them and particularly in the Southern countries these productions are localised and face competition with large world wide productions (cow milk and meat, poultry...)

 

For all, information can not be limited to direct transfer and mobilisation of a scientific knowledge (for instance in animal production) that would be applied linearly and passively by users. Scientific information is generally available and Resource or Documentation Centres like those created by CIRVAL or CRDC ease their access in France like in other countries. The NTI are often considered as very useful to link and bring near. Their amazing and recent development [7] leads to include their role in any discussion on the organisation of the Information system but it must not be overestimated. Internet keeps fundamentally elitist as these services are technically and financially discriminant.   

 

Articulation between the scientific results from experimental farms or laboratories in physiology and goat nutrition and their application at a technical and economical level within farms keeps unsolved and ruled by the concept of multiple response as developed by Sauvant, D., (1999). This problem has to be a priority to improve the impact of Research. Furthermore the goat sectors use diversified and located know-how (breeds, forage practices, flock management...), not well known experiments only available through unavailable grey literature. It has yet to be identified and valued.

Need for information can not be only analysed in terms of tools and means. It is not only a matter of specialists and has to be built collectively with all the actors. The proposals for France could be partly applied in other regions. Their aim is to develop networking and technological and strategic watching.[8] In the goat sector, these functions are underdeveloped and need to set up step by step, competencies and co-operation  networks between scientists, technicians and operators that would work on precise projects and objectives. The stakes are diverse as the objectives of actions.

In France and in Europe, to lower the production costs thanks to gains of productivity has been the main objective in the goat sector to be competitive with the cow milk. Other logics have to be looked for by taking in account diversity, product certifications and quality, use of territory, labour organisation. They have to be negotiated collectively and somehow contradictory. In Southern countries, it becomes necessary to preserve very fragile small scale farmers like the goat breeders and it would probably imply strong protections to enable local markets to develop (Hervieu, B., 1999). These aspects have not only technical implications and strategic watching could certainly help to take in account such complex questions.

 

Global versus  local: the need for local initiatives

 

Even if in France, the regional initiatives have to be better interconnected to consider new problems, it is  shown that most of the regions with goat production developed more or less local information thanks to local services or the actions of individual technicians. Without being a model for other countries, this example shows that global interconnected information services would be efficient only if there are local specific extension services to use them. In other words, development of Information would be coherent only if global services do not kill local initiatives. In Southern countries, integrating local  constraints to improve productivity has to be considered and local Resource centres and training courses to be set up. In front of the globalisation, local actions keep a capacity to act and information has not to be received passively; they adapt, they rebuild, reinterpret every indication from outside. The President of INRA, speaking more generally, wonders if Research would be in position of making its results available in developing countries and he hopes for strengthening local relays to ease the access to  knowledge  (Hervieu, B., 1999).

 

CoNCLUSIONS

 

International data basis and regional resource centres are useful and complementary to develop goat sectors. Identifying the needs, mobilising competencies, choosing the sources of information, analysing and validating them, developing the most adapted tools (monitoring bodies, sheets, training courses, etc.), defining dates of realisation and validation procedures has to be organised at a local level and collectively. This approach of information in progress with the operators themselves is still very far from the usual ways of working (scientific academism, administrative working of extension services when they exist, disciplinary divisions, orientations of funding). To encourage this type of projects would be positive for innovation in the goat sector but it still need awareness from most of the operators.

 

Références :

 

Dubeuf, J.P., Freund, G., Madeline Y., Paulais, A.M., (1999). Organismes recevant, produisant ou diffusant de l'information sur le secteur caprin en France.Etat des lieux. CRDC/Institut de l'élevage, CIRVAL, décembre 1999.

Hervieux B. (1999) Entretien dans le journal « Le Monde », Supplément spécial, l’Avenir, 21 questions au 21^ème siècle 2000-2099, décembre 1999.  

Morand-Fehr, P. (1996). Spécificité des sources et des besoins d'information dans le secteur caprin et stratégie à adopter. In Information et innovation pour les filières dispersées, 1996, Corte, Dubeuf J.P., Msika, B. (eds). CIRVAL, pp. 77-82.

Rouach, D. (1996). La veille technologique et l'intelligence économique. "que sais-je?", Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.

Sauvant D. (1999). The concept of multiple responses to diet as a link between technicial and economical aspects in animal production, 6^èmes Rencontres Recherches Ruminants, Paris,  Dec 2^nd, 3^rd 1999 , Institut de l'élevage-INRA, 11-17.