FEEDING THE WORLD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 410, 2 May 1947, Page 6

FEEDING THE WORLD

How a New Zealander is Helping

= INCE June, 1945, Dr. C. S. M. Hopkirk, formerly Director of the Antmal Research Station at Wallaceville, has been travelling round the world for UNRRA. As its chief véterinarian, his job has been, and still is, to help to feed the world by advising Governments on livestock welfare, and telling the people of many countries how to raise and look after their sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry. In three months’ time he is to become chief veterindfian for FAO (Food ‘and Agricultural Organisation of United Nations), but before that he will go to China to complete his work as veterinarian for UNRRA. Recently Dr. Hopkirk spent some time in Abyssinia advising the Emperor, Haile Selassie, on livestock welfare, so, when he called at The Listener office, our first questions, in an interview, were about the Ethiopians. Abyssinia, he told us, was a country of wonderful possibilities. people ran large numbers of cattle which were, in effect, their weaith, and most of the animals were of the humpback variety. UNRRA had taken 350 head of cattle -to Djibouti, but many were lost on the way through disease. "Does Abyssinia use any domesticated cattle for transport?" "Not many cattle, but thousands of donkeys haul the ploughs, preparing the

ground for one of the most important grain cfops, ‘teft,’ a kind of millet for making bread." "What happened to the Italian settlers who were sent to Abyssinia?" "Some went back to Italy; but mechanics and people skilled in handcrafts stayed, intermarrying with the natives and eventually becoming Abyssinians. Relations between them are most friendly." Prosperity in Abyssinia "Can you look forward a few years and see Abyssinia prospering?" "Yes, certainly, but she requires someone who knows how to handle natives and control disease." "Have the Abyssinians any preferences towards any particular nations?" "None: Haile Selassie does not believe in such preferences." "Are all the developments there the result of post-war work?" "Very largely. They have come about since Selassie’s return from exile. It is a fine country, with a good climate, and very pleasant to live in. And there is plenty of good shooting. The Italians put in good roads, but now many of them are little more than tracks, almost unusable in winter. But that is where the donkeys came in. ' "You have to be careful about using the word ‘native’ in Abyssinia," Dr. Hopkirk explained to us. "The Amharics, the ruling tribe, are e proud

people, and don’t like it at all. And the same applies to the second tribe, the Galla. It’s better™. to call them Ethiopians." | "Does Abyssinia run many sheep?" "Only a few. yt there are plenty of goats.. Camels a used in the’ desert oreas." "You mentioned shooting just now. What sort of game is there?" . "Leopards, panthers and. hippos, and some monkeys, that have really wonderful skins. The country has its forests, too, generally near the Lakes, and’ producing good wood, mostly ‘teak. Coffee and tea are grown along the lake-sides." An Enlightened Ruler "Are the people on the move-we mean emerging from ignorance and barbarism?" "They are not barbarians, though they may be backward. They are being educated, and health is being improved through hospitals established by Sweden, Russia, Britain and America. Haile Selassie has set up a laboratory producing serum to combat animal disease, but it is admittedly not the best. I went there mainly to advise him and show him how to improve his veterinary service." "Will the cattle-owners accept directions and instructions about the healih of their stock?" | "Very readily, and Selassie has two sons who share their father’s good commonsense. Wherever I went, as soon as it was known that I was a veterinarian, the people brought their cattle to me for inspéction and advice." * An Englishman had done good work among the nomad tribes by impressing on them the value of farming, said Dr. Hopkirk. "He did that by showing the (continued on next page)

(continued trom previous page) women that they could sell farm produce for money. But there was one draw-back-getting rid of the beef. Until some packing firm got interestéd in the position, and showed the people how to deal with manures and hides the cattle industry would not really advance." "Then Haile Selassie is an enlightened ruler?" "Very much so. When-I met him I found him very easy and pleasant to deal with; but he wouldn’t speak English, though he knows it well. I think he still feels a little hurt about the British attitude in 1935."

A Hungry Three Months Discussing Europe, Dr. Hopkirk said that cattle, horses, and grain were the main items which were short. People would be very hungry for the coming three months-until the American harvest. Not much well-bred stock survived the /jwar in Europe. America had contributed some, but it was’ not really firstclass. Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy received stock in good condition. Austria, he said, was almost. a dead country-in fact, down and out. The people seemed to have no incentive to do. anything. "A certain amount of ‘bloodstock that ‘was supposed to have been eaten was being found in Getmany and returned to its owners. But that did not help much against disease. The great trouble there is the fact that so many laboratories and serum factories had been completely destroyed." — "What cattle diseases affect Europe most?" -"Foot-and-mouth disease and ‘anthrax particularly, And we ate afraid of rinderpest coming in from Africa. It has got as far as Malta already, and I have vaccine waiting in Greece’in ‘case it is wanted. Swine paralysis is also killing a lot of. pigs in Central Europe, and Newcastle disease is taking its toll of poultry." "What disease is that? We have never heard of it." "Fortunately it has not come here. But it is’ one of the most fatal complaints among poultry-a virus infection that ‘wipes flocks right out."

"In. general do-they have the ‘same stock diseases in Europe as in’ New Zealand?" "Yes, roughly, thougti the incidence varies a little. Here, for example, we have ‘more contagious abortion among cattle, but ‘that is chiefly ‘because we have more intensive production of dairy produce and more cows packed into a small area. But there, as here, the complaint will be reduced by vaccines." ' "Ts vaccination succeeding here?" — "Yes, almost sensationally, In some areas we have reduced it already from 36 per cent. to 3 per cent., though we of course don’t know yet how long the immunity will last."

"How do you manage about trained staff in Europe?" "There are enough men in most of ‘the countries for skeleton staffs, and they, in turn, are training others. I have organised a class in Weybridge, England, which the best technicians in Europe can attend, and later I will look in to see how they are getting on. And we have another class in artificial insemination in Milan. The Italians certainly have good institutions and wonderful buildings, but the staffs are only fair." No Politics in Science "There are no politics in the veterinary service?" "No; all men are free of political feeling." "So you are more or less political decontaminators as well?" "We make occasional smiling . references to politics, but that’s about all." "Are there any other New Zealanders with you?" "Not in this field; I have had to do most of the work alone. But a professor from an American university did a good job in Greece when he set up a veterinary school. He takes my place when I’m away." Dr. Hopkirk said that he had been invited after his UNRRA work ended to join FAO. In China he would organise a small veterinary force. New Zealand sheep and cattle sent to China had arrived in good order, and they would be used for their milk and for improved breeding."

’ |. "We hear. occasional stories alleging _that UNRRA has fallen down on the job and that UNRRA materials are being sold on»the black market." "That sort of thing can happen anyWhere, but: isolated instances, if there are any, should not be unduly stressed. -UNRRA has done a good job and saved the lives of thousands of people. I, personally, saw a lot of food given to starving people in southern Yugoslavia, for

instance; without it they would. have died, But there is a limit to UNRRA’s power and» responsibilities. UNRRA buys the goods, takes them to the country concerned and delivers them free on the wharves. There its job ends, and the goods become the property ot the Government of that country. ; "UNRRA has no say in distribution, and if you hear of cases of maldistribution, that’s not UNRRA’s fault."