Scotland can offer help to the hungry

AS A small country on the north-west corner of Europe, Scotland may have neither the capacity nor the type of crops that would help feed the hungry parts of East Africa but it does have the scientific knowledge to help those countries where a shortage of food is endemic.

That was the assertion yesterday from Professor Julie Fitzpatrick, the director of the Moredun Research Institute, speaking at a beef event in Fife.

She claimed the integrated range of animal research facilities at the Pentlands Science Park on the outskirts of Edinburgh provided a unique base from which to tackle many of the livestock diseases that affect cattle, sheep and goats around the world.

By tackling livestock diseases, scientific discoveries in Scotland were not only improving animal welfare but it was also helping to provide food security through more efficient production.