The sugar palm tree as the basis of integrated farming
systems in Cambodia by Khieu Borin
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Second FAO Electronic Conference on Tropical Feeds
Livestock Feed Resources within Integrated Farming Systems
The sugar palm tree as the basis of integrated farming systems in Cambodia
Khieu Borin
Department of Animal Health and Production, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry
and Fisheries, Cambodia
(E-mail: borin@forum.org.kh)
ABSTRACT
The sugar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer) plays an important role in the
small integrated farming systems in Cambodia. The sugar palm is considered
to be a multi-purpose tree and provides different products such as juice,
sugar, leaves, timber, fruits, underground seedlings and roots. The juice
from the sugar palm is rich in highly digestible carbohydrate (sugars) which
is an alternative energy source for animal feeding in the rural areas. The
impact of the sugar palm on the farming system is increased when the excreta
from the animals is recycled through biodigesters to provide gas for
household cooking and effluent to fertilize the pond which can produce fish
or water plants, the former for the household and the latter for the
livestock.
When sugar palm juice is used for pig feeding, rather than the making of
sugar, it is better from both the economic and environmental points of view,
because sugar production requires large amounts of firewood that makes the
cost of production very high. It is even less profitable and extremely
harmful to the environment when palm trees are used as fuel in order to
produce the sugar.
KEYWORDS: Borassus flabellifer, palm juice, palm sugar, fuel, environment,
biodigester, sustainable production.
INTRODUCTION
In Cambodia, 85 per cent of the total population is dependent on
agricultural activities. Most of their annual income comes from agriculture.
The farming system comprises rice cultivation, sugar palm production,
livestock farming, and vegetable growing. Livestock make many contributions
to the farming activities, such as draught power, meat, milk, eggs, organic
fertilizer, fuel, social status, etc. In order to maintain these important
contributions, livestock have to be adequately fed, well managed, and
properly cared for. However, there must be a clear division between what is
human food and what is animal feed. As Preston and Sansoucy (1987) have
suggested, one way to achieve a sustainable animal production system is to
match livestock with the available local resources. In this case, there are
resources which can be used for animal feed such as multipurpose trees,
aquatic plants, agricultural products and by-products.
The sugar palm tree, which is called "Thnot" in Khmer, is a source of income
in different seasons of the year. In addition, it provides good materials
for house construction such as leaves, leaf branches and trunk, when juice
production is not carried out. The palm tree commences to produce
inflorescences (maturity) in 15-20 years depending on soil fertility. There
is no relevant literature which describes the productive life of the tree,
although there are examples of trees today which have been used to produce
juice for more than 70 years. Borin Khieu et al. (1996a) reported that the
juice can be collected for 3 months of the year from the male tree and 5-6
months from the female tree. The average yield was 5 kg of juice per day per
tree with an average brix value of 13.5% (sugar content). In 1995, the sugar
palm population was estimated at 8 million trees in different provinces in
Cambodia. The trees are found mostly on sandy soils with a pH of 5.5. The
sugar palm trees are capable of producing 160,000 tonnes of juice or 21,600
tonnes of sugar (sucrose) per year per hectare. This is a great potential
feed resource that can be used as an alternative to cereal grains for
feeding monogastric animals. The preferred animal species are pigs and ducks
which adapt readily to "unconventional" high moisture feed resources.
However, it may also be used as a supplement for draught animals.
The system is based on the sugar palm which provides the carbohydrate feed
(juice). The other multipurpose trees and water plants supply protein in
addition to the important role that the trees play as a sink for carbon
dioxide, in nitrogen fixation, in controlling erosion and as a source of
biodiversity. Sugar palm trees are integrated into the farming activities.
THE ROLE OF SUGAR PALM TREES
The sugar palm tree is considered a multipurpose tree since it demonstrates
great potential by providing different products for humans, as well as for
animal feeding. The role of sugar palm trees in the mixed farming system is
as follow:
* To provide sugar, fruits, germinated seeds and juice for human consumption
and animal feeding.
* To use as the green fence around the household, as well as on the bunds of
rice fields.
* As the sugar palm tree has a deep root system (up to 15 m), it can be used
also to control erosion.
* The leaves of the sugar palm tree can be used as a nest for bats which
provide manure as a good source of fertilizer. The bats can provide 0.5 to 1
kg of manure per day which could be sold to the city for flower gardens.
THE PRODUCTION OF SUGAR PALM TREE
The sugar palm tree does not require any management for biomass production.
But the leaves should not be harvested when trees are kept for juice
collection. Farmers believe harvesting the leaves has a great influence on
the yield of juice. The juice from the sugar palm tree is normally collected
once a day. However, there are high production trees (20-25 kg of juice per
day) which should be collected from twice daily. The yield and the brix
value (sugar content) vary from tree to tree, farmer to farmer and time of
production. Some skillful farmers can manage to get juice with high brix
value that is good for sugar syrup production because it requires less
firewood for boiling the juice. Potentially, trees (especially females) can
produce juice throughout the whole year.
The composition of the syrup samples (Table 1) showed considerable variation
among farmers and between harvest periods. Seasonal variation in composition
is shown in Table 2. Sucrose as per cent of total solids in the juice ranged
from 66 to 94% in the samples taken in January and from 51 to 88% in April.
In contrast, glucose and fructose levels in juice increased. The levels of
glucose ranged from 2.1 to 9.6% in samples taken in January and from 3.5 to
18.2% in April. The fructose levels ranged from 2.6 to 11% in samples taken
in January and from 4.6 to 24.5% in April.
Table 1. Chemical composition of sugar palm syrup
- - - - - -As % of dry matter- - - -
DM Ash Sucr Gluc Fruct Total
ose ose ose CHOs
16 Jan.1995
Hay Yang 84.8 1.4 65.8 9.6 10.6 86.7
Huy Kiel 86.5 1.3 85.7 5.8 6.6 98.0
Pring Huy 84.3 1.7 74.1 9.4 11.0 94.8
Map Chreb 82.7 1.2 88.2 4.8 5.5 98.6
Sim Hen 87.8 1.0 93.1 2.1 2.6 97.9
Pauv Pauv 84.1 1.4 81.7 5.7 7.5 95.5
Tha Khorn 88.1 1.5 94.3 2.1 3.3 99.7
Thorn Punn 89.9 1.8 74.3 6.8 8.3 91.1
Yem Khnol 84.2 1.8 72.9 9.1 10.6 93.6
Chan Mak 88.4 1.0 93.1 2.5 2.9 98.5
Thorn Chreb 78.6 1.7 85.7 4.8 2.9 96.9
15 Apr. 1995
Hay Yang 85.8 1.7 69.8 7.3 12.5 89.6
Huy Kiel 88.9 1.5 68.5 11.2 13.4 93.5
Pring Huy 82.9 1.6 51.0 18.2 24.5 91.2
Map Chreb 82.3 1.5 57.4 15.7 18.1 92.7
Sim Hen 85.0 1.3 74.9 8.7 9.9 96.2
Pauv Pauv 79.7 1.6 68.0 10.6 12.2 92.2
Tha Khorn 82.2 1.1 87.6 5.5 5.9 99.0
Thol Onn 86.9 1.2 73.5 8.0 11.0 92.6
Thorn Punn 87.4 1.5 87.1 3.5 4.6 96.1
Yem Khnol 92.0 1.5 62.6 9.4 15.8 90.0
Thorn Chreb 75.6 1.6 76.4 9.8 9.5 95.7
Table 2. T test analysis of changes in sucrose, glucose & fructose (reduced
sugar)and ash in sugar palm juice with advance of harvesting season.
16 Jan 15 Apr Mean t value Prob.
1995 1995 diff
Sucrose 81.6 70.4 11.2 2.79 0.021
Glucose 6 10 -4.0 -2.78 0.021
Fructose 7.2 12.3 -5.1 -3.56 0.006
Ash 1.4 1.4 -0.02 -0.19 0.86
The constraint on sugar palm production is the fuel consumption. The
estimate of firewood consumption is 460 kg per tree per year which is
equivalent to 3.68 millions tonnes of firewood required for sugar production
annually in the country. However, rice husk can be used as an alternative
fuel to boil juice but it is still a problem to get sufficient quantity for
this purpose. The other way to achieve better utilization of the sugar palm
tree is by diverting juice from sugar production to animal feeding.
THE USE OF SUGAR PALM AND BY-PRODUCTS IN ANIMAL FEEDING
There is no relevant literature which describes the real amount of sugar
palm and its by-products given to domestic animals in the country. But it
has certainly been used as a livestock feed supplement in the rural areas.
RUMINANT FEEDING
The main feed for cattle and buffaloes during the dry season is rice straw.
In this period, most of the animals become very thin because of the poor
quality feed supply. However, some of the animals which get a supplement
from sugar palm products and by-products have good performance or at least
maintain weight. The juice from the sugar palm is sprayed over the rice
straw and kept for some minutes and then fed mainly to draught animals. This
also makes rice straw more palatable.
Sugar palm syrup can also be used as an ingredient to make multi-nutritional
blocks. Experience from FAO Project TCP/CMB/2254 "Emergency Plan for
Livestock Security" has shown that multi-nutritional blocks are a good
potential supplement for draught animals in the dry season. The formula used
for a hundred kg of mixture was: rice bran 40 kg, sugar palm syrup (80% DM)
15 kg, urea 7.5 kg, salt 7.5, lime 5, cement 5, clay 20 kg. The animals have
good performance, a bright coat and stop licking urine from others animals.
The fruits from sugar palm are chopped and given to animals after having
taken the soft part and kernel for human consumption. The mature fruits are
soaked in water and the wiry fibers sucked out. The solution of yellow pulp
is given to the draught animals or lactating cows. During the dry season, it
has been observed that the leaves from the young palm trees are eaten by
cattle.
MONOGASTRIC ANIMAL FEEDING
The common monogastric animals kept in the rural areas are pigs, chicken and
ducks. The population of monogastric animals is growing very fast because of
the quick turnover of capital and the available market. A scavenging system
is the common practice. The animals are sometimes supplemented with kitchen
waste or cereal grains. Another important feed is the solution which is
obtained after cleaning the pan from making palm sugar. The solution is
mixed with rice bran and fed to pigs. Pigs show good performance compared to
the ones which are fed rice alone.
Starting in 1993 with the introduction of TCP/CMB/2254 and later on with
SAREC, research has demonstrated that the sugar palm juice can be used as a
source of energy supply for pigs. The trials were adapted and tested in
different villages in Cambodia. When the monogastric animals are fed a basal
diet derived from tropical feed resources such as sugar cane, cassava,
bananas, sweet potatoes or palm oil, the supplementary nutrients needed are
protein, lipids, minerals and vitamins (Preston, 1992).
The first idea was to use the scum from making sugar palm syrup to feed
pigs. But the reaction from the farmers was to use fresh juice for pig
feeding instead of the scum. In 1995, there was a trial involving 72 pigs
divided between 12 families in Kandoeung Commune, Takeo Province, Cambodia.
The objective of the research was to evaluate the juice of the sugar palm
tree as a sole energy feed for pigs. The result was reasonably good compared
to sugar palm syrup production. The average live weight gain was 356 g per
day per pig with only 156 g CP supplement. In fact, the most important
feature is the economic impact of feeding juice to pigs. Elliott and Kloren
(1987) reported that the use of fibre-free energy sources such as raw sugar
or sugar cane juice permits greater use of cheaper vegetable and aquatic
protein sources which are not usually included to a great extent in
conventional diets because of their high fibre content. Therefore, the use
of sugar palm juice in monogastric feeding, especially for pigs, will
provide opportunities to farmers for better utilization of their own locally
available feed resources as protein supplements and the cost of production
will be reduced.
ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SUGAR PALM TREE
Sugar palm production has been one of the main sources of income for rural
families. The number of trees ranged from 10 to 30 per family which results
in 1 to 3 tonnes of sugar palm syrup (approximately 80% DM) in the 6 month
production period. However there are farmers who can collect juice from the
female trees for the whole year. The price of the syrup varies from 400 -
600 Riels during the production period (dry season) to 1,000 - 1,200 Riels
afterwards (rainy season). Sugar production still continues to be a source
of income for the people who have access to free firewood.
It was shown during the study (Borin Khieu et al., 1996b) that when firewood
was purchased for condensing sugar palm juice, some farmers lost an average
of 20 Riels per tree per day. There is another alternative source of fuel,
rice husks, which can replace firewood. This system requires a new kind of
stove that was adapted by a French organization, the GRET. The income from
sugar production using rice husk is comparatively better than with firewood.
However, there is still insufficient fuel for cooking because the yield of
husk from a hectare of rice is approximately 240 kg which provides only 4.5%
of the total fuel consumption for condensing the juice of 20 trees. If
opportunity cost of labour is taken into consideration, it greatly increases
the cost of production because one to two persons are permanently assigned
to take care of boiling juice.
Using palm juice for pig feeding has proved to be an effective and
sustainable method of production. Several trials showed that, from the
economic point of view, the profit from using palm juice for pig feeding was
much higher than for sugar production. The net profit was 140 Riels per tree
per day, compared to only 10 Riels from sugar production (Borin Khieu et
al., 1996b).
The sugar palm tree may produce 8-15 bunches of fruits with a total of about
80 fruits per year from female trees which are not exploited for juice. The
price is 3,000 to 3,500 Riels per 40 kernels which are extracted from 15-20
fruits. Therefore, each tree provides approximately 12,000-14,000 Riels
annually. In addition, the leaves also contribute other income or at least
they can be used to thatch the houses. Finally when palm trees are over 10 m
(70-100 years old), it is difficult to use them for juice collection. They
are cut and sawn for house construction.
CONSTRAINTS ON SUGAR PRODUCTION
At present, the densest population of sugar palms is found in highly
populated areas. This is leading to the disappearance of the trees because
of the high demand for land for cultivation to satisfy the needs of the
people. Another important reason could be that there is a need for timber
for construction materials and a need for fuel for household cooking and for
boiling juice. Many sugar palm tree are used every year as fuel to condense
sugar palm juice. As an example, in 1995, it was estimated that 10-15 sugar
palm trees were cut to supply part of the firewood requirement by the sugar
producers in Tumnop Thom Commune, Punhea Leu District, Kandal province.
It should be noted that by using juice for pigs, 3.68 million tonnes of
firewood will be saved each year. Therefore this system will contribute to
the reforestation programme which is taking place at present in Cambodia.
ALTERNATIVE INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS
It has been calculated that the sugar palm trees in the country may produce
enough juice to feed 3-4 million pigs or 14 million ducks. This shows great
potential for replacement of cereals for animal feeding which is very
important for a country like Cambodia which has not produced enough cereal
grain to feed its population since 1979. As the population grows rapidly,
there will be a demand, not only for cereal, but also for meat. Pigs and
ducks are the first choice as they grow fast and are in high demand by the
people.
When low protein basal diets such as sugar cane and sugar palm products and
by-products are fed to monogastric animals, the total protein needed is
reduced considerably. This is because the ratio of essential amino acids is
close to the optimum when the animal is supplemented with tree foliage and
water plants such as Nacedero (Trichantera gigantea), duckweed (Lemna ssp.),
water spinach (Ipomea aquatica) and azolla (Azolla anabaena) (Preston, 1995
and Leng et al., 1995). All these sources of protein are available in the
ponds or around the households which are fertilized with the effluent from
the plastic biodigester.
This integrated farming system provides an environmentally friendly
solution, where the biodigester is playing an intermediate role in the
system. Biodigestion enables the farmers to recycle waste and excreta from
animals as well as humans. The number of biodigesters is growing very fast
in Cambodia; up to now, there have been 450 digesters installed in different
provinces of Cambodia. The popularity of the biodigester is connected to
that of the human latrine and the need to solve the firewood problem. In
addition, when pigs are raised in confinement, they produce waste and manure
as a substrate for the digester which has not been the case in the past when
they were mostly kept in a scavenging system. The biodigester does not
produce only gas (methane) for household cooking but also provides
fertilizer for rice fields and vegetable gardens which is better than the
fresh manure. Farmers participating in the FAO GCP/RAS/143/JPN and Lutheran
World Service (LWS) projects demonstrated that the biodigester provided
great value by cutting down the expenditure on chemical fertilizer. The
slurry from the digester is safe and it can be used as feed in the fish
pond. It is also very important that the housekeepers (wives) are happy to
participate in the system because it provides a clean environment in the
kitchen, as well as the whole house, and it gives her more time to perform
other work or participate in social activities.
STRATEGY FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTION BASED ON SUGAR PALM
The development of livestock production in Cambodia will be based on
small-scale farmers and the utilization of local resources. The free range
system is the common practice for all kinds of animals. But now there is a
need to utilize available land for crop production in order to satisfy the
demands of the growing population. The sustainable way to keep the system
working and to solve these problems is to raise animals (especially cattle,
buffaloes and poultry) in a semi-scavenging system. For instance, sugar palm
products and by-products can be used as the energy basal diet with the
protein supplement from the leaves of multipurpose trees like Gliricidia,
Acacia, Leucaena, Nacedero, etc. and water plants such as duckweed, Azolla,
water spinach and so on. This should be the alternative way for livestock
production in Cambodia. In the same strategy, pigs are proposed to be
confined because of their propensity to destroy crops like sweet potato and
vegetable gardens. By keeping pigs in a pen, they will also provide
additional income as mentioned above.
PERSPECTIVES
In order to further develop this integrated system, more involvement from
farmers is vitally important. A credit programme is needed for the poorer
farmers who do not have money to start. It is crucial that both women and
men participate in the discussion, in planning as well as implementing. The
role of women in these activities is very important because the woman is the
one who feeds the animals and spends most of her time looking after the
farming system. However, the man does the rest of the activities such as
climbing the sugar palm tree, ploughing the land, digging the pond, etc.
The majority of farmers are interested in raising fattening pigs but very
few keep sows which makes the system unbalanced. Therefore the price of the
piglets (15-20 kg) is 100,000 Riels, relatively high compared to the
finishing pigs (90-100 kg) which cost about 330,000 Riels. The strategy for
long term and sustainable development is to establish the reproduction
system which can provide piglets in the villages so that they are more
adapted to the native environment and local conditions. In this case, the
indigenous pigs such as Chrouk Domrey, Chrouk Hainam, Chrouk Kandor, etc.,
are likely to be the best for prolificacy and efficient use of poor quality
feed.
In the tropics there are many plant species that can be utilized better for
animal feeding from the economic and environmental points of view than
imported concentrate feeds. They are excellent components of the integrated
farming system and part of the local ecological context. The plants which
produce energy-rich feed are sugar cane, sugar palm trees and all palms
yielding juice (Coco nucifera, Arenga pinnata, Borassus species, Caryota
urens, Nypa fruticans, etc), palm oil, cassava, etc. However, in all
livestock feeding, the most expensive ingredient is protein. In fact, on the
small farm in remote areas, the availability of protein is restricted to
what can be grown on the farm and the by-products available in the areas. In
these cases, it is crucial to introduce multipurpose plant species that
could be used as animal feed and which have a better amino acid balance.
CONCLUSIONS
In Cambodia, it is important to diversify the use of sugar palm trees for
animal production in order to maintain these trees as part of the farming
system because sugar production will not survive any longer in the provinces
due to the firewood problem.
The multipurpose sugar palm trees have played an important role in an
integrated system. They are very efficient utilizers of solar energy and may
not require any fertilizer inputs. They provide high energy feeds, low in
fibre but with very low protein contents. This allows the optimum use of
on-farm products and by-products as protein sources for monogastric
nutrition. These include leaves of Nacedero (Trichantera gigantea), sweet
potato leaves, water spinach, silage of cassava leaves, duckweed, azolla,
etc.
REFERENCES
Borin Khieu, Preston, T. R. and Lindberg,J. E. 1996a. Juice Production from
the sugar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer) in Cambodia and the performance
of growing pigs fed sugar palm juice. (MSC thesis in Sustainable Tropical
Animal System, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala). pp
1-11.
Borin Khieu, Lindberg, J. E. and Preston, T. R. 1996b. A study on the
multipurpose tree (Borassus flabellifer) and its products for animal feeding
in Cambodia. (MSc thesis in Sustainable Tropical Animal System, Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala). pp 1-10.
Elliott, R. and Kloren, W. R. L. 1987. The use of sugar in diet for
monogastric. Recent Advances in Anim. Nutri. in Australia. pp 164-169.
Leng, R. A., Stambolie, J. H. and Bell R. 1995. Duckweed - A potential
high-protein feed resource for domestic animals and fish. Livestock Research
for Rural Development. Volume 7, number 1, October 1995. (16kb).
Preston, T. R. 1995. Tropical Animal Feeding: A manual for research workers,
FAO Animal Production and Health Paper, No. 126. Chapter 3: Nutrition of
non-ruminants. pp 35-49.
Preston, T. R. 1992. The role of multi-purpose trees in integrated farming
systems for the wet tropics. In: Legume trees and other fodder trees as
protein sources for livestock (Proceedings of the FAO Expert Consultation
help at the Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute
(MARDI). FAO Animal Production and Health Paper No. 102. pp 193-208.
Preston, T. R. and Sansoucy, R. 1987. Matching livestock system with
available feed resources. In: Proceeding of FAO Expert Consultation on the
substitution of the imported concentrate feed in animal production system in
developing countries. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper No. 63. pp
32-41.
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FAO ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE:
LIVESTOCK FEED RESOURCES WITHIN INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS
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Second FAO Electronic Conference on Tropical Feeds
Livestock Feed Resources within Integrated Farming Systems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Manuel Sanchez
It would be nice to get into the debate about what way to follow towards
improving the living standards of people in tropical countries, considering
that the most of the so called "developed" countries have very serious
social problems at various levels (individual, family, society) that none of
the so called "developing" countries would like to have (like unemployment,
drug addition, obesity, etc, just to name a few).
Nevertheless, in this electronic conference we are discussing matters
related to how to make better use of local resources to increase animal
production within sustainable systems.
It is clear that the green revolution (including the industrialized
monogastric production as part of it) has allowed significant increases in
food production but with a huge negative impact on the environment and on
biodiversity. We certainly urgently need alternative sustainable models. We
can not say that intensive swine production, with imported feeds from the
other side of the world and causing pollution of soil and water, despite the
high productivity per sow, is a good example to follow. Nor is dairy and
beef production based on grass monoculture, that gradually destroys soil
fertility and limits opportunities for bioversity, specially in those areas
that previously had forests.
The greatest damage to tropical animal agriculture has been the imitation or
adaptation of production systems from temperate (developed) countries. Soil
and environmental conditions, as well as plant and (sometimes) animal
resources are so different, that appropriate local systems are needed. For
instance, the concept that ruminants, both large and small, have to be
reared on grass in the tropics as it is done in temperate areas, is causing
in many places irreversible negative effects on the ecology that could be in
the near future an issue in enviromental suits.
The only hope to develop sustainable livestock and agricultural production
systems is with small holders, who can conserve the environment and
biodiversity. Monoculture agriculture as practiced by large owners or
companies not only is causing damage to our planet but also to our societies
in their sake of short and medium term profits, by exploiting labour (both
local and imported, legally or illegally) and by preventing the highly
valued rural development.
The keys for finding these sustainable systems are to be found in the
traditional combined with our scientific knowledge. For example, some of
forages belonging to the third generation, following grasses and legumes,
composed of the highly nutritious broad-leave plants like Morus, Hibiscus,
and Malvaviscus, which allow milk yields of 20,000 l/ha without
concentrates, have been used by the Chinese farmers for hundred and maybe
thousands of years.
It is clear that in most cases technologies from temperate areas are
not going to improve the living standards of the people living in tropical
countries in a sustainable manner, thus for our own sake and that of our
descendants, lets keep looking for those systems and technologies that best
fit our present needs without damaging the environment and without putting
in danger future generations.
M. Sanchez
Animal Production Officer
AGA, FAO, Rome
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FAO ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE:
LIVESTOCK FEED RESOURCES WITHIN INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DISCLAIMER: Neither the conference organizers nor FAO accept
any legal responsibility for either the contents of this
message or any copyright laws that the person sending this
electronic message may have violated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TO COMMENT: Unless you want to reply only to the person
sending this information, please send your comments to the
address: TFCONF2-L@MAILSERV.FAO.ORG
or TFCONF2-ABS-L@MAILSERV.FAO.ORG
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