INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND FOOD SECURITY

The Role of Livestock in Food Security

John Vercoe

The late Dr Vercoe served as Chairman of the Board of the International Livestock Research Institute

The world is on the path towards a livestock revolution. As incomes improve and social conditions change one the major behavioural changes is in eating patterns. People move towards high quality animal proteins in favour of traditional plant based sources. Consumption of meat and milk is expected to more than double in many developing countries (although unfortunately not so pronounced and patchy in sub-Saharan Africa). The economic growth in China and India are major drivers, but demand is increasing markedly in such countries as Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. This huge increase in demand will stimulate production and, since much of the increase will come from the intensive systems, it will place a large test on the ability of the globe to provide feeds for livestock and well as plant-based foods for human populations. But perhaps the greater challenge is to ensure that the poor smallholder farmers in the developing world benefit from this opportunity and do not become victims of it.

• Livestock play a pivotal role in food security of subsistence communities-as a direct source of quality protein and also as a source of income (through draught power for planting and harvesting crops, manure for fertilising crops and as fuel for cooking) and means to transport produce to markets.
• Livestock can also be the bank account for small farmers who have no access to banking systems, either as a repository for quick income in times of need or as sources of credit (farmers may wish to borrow money that can be repaid when next year’s crops are harvested or the next lot of animals sold). Livestock used this way are a symbol of wealth.
• Farmers generally, and poor livestock farmers in developing countries in particular, have a risk-minimisation approach to their enterprises, not a profit-taking mentality. They need to retain a nucleus of livestock for next year and the years beyond, despite the threats of droughts, diseases and in some regions, war.
• Enterprises with a major component of their activity associated with livestock can be grouped into three main categories:
  • Pastoral production systems
  • Mixed crop-livestock production systems
  • Intensive production systems
• Pastoral systems in developing countries exist mainly in 19 July, 2006uly, 2006omadic or semi-nomadic. Threats to their future are degradation of grazing lands, encroachment of settlements and cropping onto traditional livestock migration routes, the slow penetration of a market-orientation approach to production, lack of infrastructure providing credit, no processing facilities and lack of rapid access to markets for perishable livestock products.
• Mixed crop-livestock systems are common in arable areas. Farmers may have large ruminants (cattle and buffalo), livestock for draught, manure and transportation need, and maybe also small ruminants (sheep and goats), chickens (for sale as well as household eggs and meat) and in some cultures there will be pigs.
• These systems are robust in terms of their longer-term sustainability. Their biggest threat is that as the demand for, and the value of, livestock products increase, the cropping yields are unable to keep pace with the demands for food for the family and feed for the livestock, and the level of nutrition, and hence the production form the livestock declines or stagnates. It is at this stage where new technical inputs and credit facilities play a major role in enhancing food security.
• Intensive systems are market-oriented and, where close to larger towns and cities, are termed peri-urban livestock production systems. They support highly specialised operations for milk and poultry (eggs and meat) production, and to a lesser extent, pigs. They require little or no land but need a ready source of high quality feed, much of which may be purchased from feed suppliers who import or produce the feed locally. These systems become the larger scale commercial operations of the future. The important difference is that they are based on the efforts of the local farmers who are the major beneficiaries and not just a profit-taking concern of a foreign-based enterprise using the local conditions as a cheap source of labour and materials.

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