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The Livestock Revolution: Pathway to Poverty Alleviation
By
Dr. Alamdar Hussain
Malik
Globally demand for meat and milk rose greatly in the last
20 years. It will double in the next 20 years. The
skyrocketing orders are fuelling massive increases in
livestock production in poor countries. The extent and scope
of the livestock increases are surpassing those of the Green
‘cereals’ Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. This phenomenon
has power to affect the global economy. It has power to
transform the social and physical landscapes of developing
countries. It is being called a ‘livestock revolution’. The
stakes in it for the world’s poor are enormous. The
Livestock Revolution could help relieve poverty and hunger
worldwide. It could provide an engine for sustainable
intensification of small-scale farming and marketing. It
could also beget pollution, degradation and disease as it
stretches production in non-industrialised countries beyond
capacities. The Livestock Revolution is driven by appetites
of billions of people with small rising incomes. It cannot
be stopped. It can be harnessed, however, for poor people
worldwide, who keep most of the world’s livestock. An
additional 2.5 billion people will live on this planet in 20
years. Analysts predict that demand for meat and milk will
more than double in developing countries. By 2020,
developing countries will produce 60 percent of the world’s
meat and 52 percent of the world’s milk.
From 1970 to 1995, poor countries increased their
consumption of milk and meat by 175 million metric tons.
That is more than twice the increase in developed countries
and over half as large as the increased consumption of
cereals made possible by the Green Revolution. The market
value of the increase in milk and meat production in this
period totalled US$153 billion—more than twice the value of
the increased consumption of wheat, rice and maize.
Consumption of animal foods will grow even faster in future.
The meat production to grow four times as fast in developing
countries as in developed.
Livestock contribute to the livelihoods of more than
two-thirds (nearly 2.3 billion) of the world’s rural poor
and nearly one person in eight depends almost entirely on
livestock. This is new established fact that securing the
assets of poor farmers, enabling them to expand their
enterprises, and to market their products are key strategies
to combat poverty. For poor farmers, the loss of one or two
buffaloes/cows can mean no milk to drink and no money for
medicines or children’s education. Livestock in developing
countries often contribute up to 50 per cent of agricultural
GDP and more than 20 per cent of total GDP. On smallholder
farms worldwide, livestock provide up to 60 per cent of
household income. The health of livestock is less compelling
in the developed world—although the end result of poor
livestock health is poor human health and greater poverty.
Rapidly expanding demand for animal foods can be met by a
series of price-driven adjustments. The Livestock Revolution
is making increased livestock production inevitable and
arguments against it academic. Livestock revolution is being
driven not by new technology but by rising demand.
Livestock can make an important contribution to the
nutritional status and quality of life of people who live on
small-scale farms. More than a billion people suffer from
micronutrient malnutrition, which is successfully combated
by adding milk and meat to a diet. Evidence is mounting that
the essential role of animal-source foods in combating these
chronic problems has been overlooked or understated. Farm
animals sustain and renew themselves on a diet of straw,
grass, leaves, crop wastes and household scraps. They
convert these into foods rich in protein, energy, and
nutrients. Calcium, vitamin B12, iron, and zinc, absent or
scarce in cereals, particularly benefit women and are
essential for the growth and learning of children surviving
almost exclusively on starchy diets. It is difficult for a
person raised in a materially rich country to appreciate the
kinds of assets accumulated by people in poor countries
living on the margin of economic respectability. The global
role of animal agriculture in improving the quality of human
life has always been emphasized during the 20th century and
is expected to be even more important in terms of food
supplies in the future. These facts indicate that the
availability of foods of animal origin will play a key role
in the nutritional problems in the future.
Asian region raised 464 million cattle, 153 million
buffaloes, 412 million sheep, 446 million goats, and 7080
million chickens in 1999 (FAO, 2000). But the Asian share of
world total meat production has been quite low when compared
to its animal population. Although the demand in developing
countries for animal proteins is increasing, animal
production is not keeping pace with the growth in demand.
Consumption figures are lower than world average but the
livestock industry is growing in this region, especially
good progress has been made in the poultry sector. Judging
from the animal numbers and meat output, there seems to be
substantial room to make fuller use of livestock potential
in this region.
In Pakistan farm income could rise dramatically with the
rising demand for livestock products, but whether that gain
will be shared by those who need it most—smallholders and
landless agricultural workers—is not clear. Handled
correctly, this rising demand could improve the well-being
of millions of poor. Handled incorrectly, or not handled at
all, it could hurt those millions.
What will largely determine whether the Livestock Revolution
is more blessing or curse for the poor and rich alike is
publicly funded research. The knowledge, policies and
technologies produced by research can help to create a
dynamic livestock sector able simultaneously to increase
food, economic and environmental security to the poorest
communities. Livestock production will offer poor farmers
increasing opportunities to raise their living standards.
Research that makes livestock and crop-livestock production
efficient and sustainable will thus help the Pakistan
farmers rise out of poverty.
Perhaps the most important characteristic of livestock is
that, unlike other agricultural products, they ‘are
flexible: they can be moved in response to variable rainfall
conditions and can be purchased or sold in response to
variable market conditions. Mobility is what makes livestock
the “bottom line” in so many peoples’ shrewd risk and
resource allocation. As “mobile production units”, they can
be deployed so as to exploit non-arable areas and special
“patches” in the landscape that would otherwise be of little
or uncertain productive value to humans.
The improvement of livestock production will be particularly
important in the coming years, in view of the future
financial constraints in Pakistan public sector. There will
be an increased need to use limited resources effectively.
Economic structural adjustment programmes have resulted in
farmers having cuts in subsidies, extension, and veterinary
services. Any programmes aimed at alleviating poverty
through livestock production will have to be based on sound
knowledge of the situation in smallholder farming systems,
including gender issues, in the context of the prevailing
socio-economic conditions. Despite six decades of evolving
approaches to alleviate rural poverty, poverty is
persistent, widespread, and in some cases increasing.
Surprisingly, this is true even in the face of overall
claimed economic growth throughout the country. This
established reality and deepening poverty underscores the
fact that the causes of poverty are complex and that
appropriate policy responses are inadequately understood.
Buffaloes, cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminant animals
are life-enhancing as well as life-supporting. Animals feed
people and soils. They generate incomes. They are the major
capital asset of smallholder farmers. They reproduce
themselves under even the harshest conditions. They are
highly specialised eaters of grasses and similar vegetation.
They convert these organic materials indigestible by people
into human food of the highest quality. Livestock are often
the most important and most reliable form of capital
storage. ‘Animals act as readily fungible financial
instruments and yield substantial interest in the form of
both weight gains and new births’. Animal products are an
important source of disposable income. Where cash is
severely scarce, the sale of even a single animal can spell
the difference between life and death by providing cash with
which to obtain essential foods or medical care. The small
daily income gained by selling milk brings new opportunities
to farm households, raising hopes as well as living
standards. Dairying, in fact, acts as a ‘cash crop’—and one
that is heavily relied upon because it generates a more
regular income than most other enterprises available to the
poor. In severely cash-scarce environments,
livestock-generated ‘micro-enterprises’ and ‘micro-assets’
allow people to plan for the future and see families and
communities through hard times, when prolonged drought or
rain or market fluctuations take their toll. Importantly,
such livestock enterprises also act as a ‘starter’ that
enables people to raise themselves and their families from
degrading poverty to low income to middle class.
Livestock-keeping empowers women in particular. Women in
developing countries often own livestock, particularly small
stock, when they are denied ownership of land. Rural women
worldwide typically participate directly or indirectly in
some or all aspects of animal agriculture. On farms without
large ruminants, much of the manual labour is done by women.
During past four decades, the poultry farming in Pakistan
has made a spectacular progress transforming itself from a
backyard industry into a dynamic and sophisticated agri-based
industry. During these years industry has grown in size,
quality and productivity. In Pakistan, average consumption
of eggs and poultry meat is well below that in developed
countries. This is where the demand for poultry products
will increase most in the future.
Compared to other livestock sectors, the poultry industry is
showing a characteristic tendency to a rapid application of
advanced technology. There are some clear differences
between poultry husbandry and the animal husbandry in
general, which can explain the fast developments in the
poultry industry, such as: a high rate of reproduction, a
quick return on capital invested and the absence of the
necessity to own large area of land. Several factors
contributed to this trend and the first and foremost in
increasing consumer preference for poultry meat among all
communities. Since it is accepted by all communities, it can
be called as the “Universal Meat”.
Efforts have been made to improve the production
quantitatively and qualitatively in the livestock sector.
But marketing of livestock and livestock products, with few
exceptions such as milk and eggs, is still to receive the
attention of the planners and policy makers. The rural
producers are a most unorganized lot. The scale of
production is small and scattered. Marketing of livestock is
associated with a unique set of conditions which makes it
highly risky and laborious, besides prevalence of relative
imperfection in the marketing mechanism. Marketing of
livestock is mostly the forced one and under stress.
Livestock development programs in Pakistan have been hardly
based on the understanding of the livestock production
systems. The relationship between, biological, technical and
social factors are important while implementing locally or
internationally assisted development projects. The demand
for animal protein has drastically increased past two
decades which in turn increased commercially based livestock
production systems to meet the market. There has been an
over emphasis on single commodity development, and a
technology driven orientation with little or no
participation of farmers, and formation of stronger farmer
based institutions. The increasing confluence of animals and
human health problems, as well as the pressing issue of
emerging diseases, require increased attention to livestock
health. Climatic and environmental constraints that have
limited a host of diseases to the equatorial latitudes are
changing. Today, it is estimated that 55 percent of human
diseases have animal origins. Targeting animal diseases may
therefore lead to new drugs or vaccines for animal diseases.
The number animals increased a less contribution to the
increase of production of each sector whether meat or milk.
Breeding programs, artificial inseminations and strategies
used to upgrade the animal population not a successful one,
particularly when applied to small mixed- farming systems.
Government give less priority to rural livestock sector,
resulting in underdeveloped infrastructure, limited access
of farmers to markets and credit, low and fluctuating
producer prices, inadequate producer organizations and weak
marketing organizations. Most of livestock population is
nondescriptive with low production potential. The strategy
is to improve productivity through better utilization of
available feed, with improving forage and pasture,
upgradation program be undertaken with semen of exotic
breeds and dairy breeds to increase meat and milk
production. Increasing self-sufficiency on feed grain will
be an important factor in future livestock sector
developmental programs.
Since feed cost is becoming the most important factor in
livestock production, in the immediate future, animal
producers and government policy makers must look closely at
their available feed resources and produce more feed grains
that need not to be bought with US dollars. There is no
doubt that the present economic crisis has taught an
important lesson for placing too heavy a dependence on
imported raw materials in animal production. The
environmental pollution emerged as a major challenge for
further expansion of intensive system of livestock raising.
Therefore waste disposal facilities must be developed and
modern abattoirs should be available in major production
areas instead of consumption areas. Meat production is done
in unhygienic condition and meat industry is unorganized.
Modernization of existing slaughterhouses and establishment
of new modern and hygienic plants must undertake at national
level.
In Pakistan the statistics on livestock sector is not
properly collected and maintained. Therefore proper data on
animal population, production, marketing and disease
incidence should be collected. Based on them short term and
long term development plan should be prepared for the
development of the sector. This inadequacy has to be
overcome through periodic surveys on livestock industry.
Lack of proper marketing and non-accessibility to markets,
result in the exploitation of farmers by the middleman at
various level. It is difficult for a small holder farmer
owning one or two animals to organize their marketing
properly. Thus, small-holder livestock farmers should be
encouraged to organize themselves into cooperatives,
associations or public groups to facilitate requisites
inputs to increase meat production and improve its quality
as well as to market their surplus produce at appropriate
price.
Livestock livelihood provides pathways out of poverty for
millions of poorest people. Poverty reduction and growth
strategies need to recognize the multi-dimensionality of
rural livelihoods and the importance of farm-non farm
linkages in facilitating rural growth. Policy priority
therefore should be given to providing an enabling rural
environment for commercial activities such as institutional
innovations that support competitiveness of household
producers, lower level of formal and informal taxes, and
increased investment in public goods such as agricultural
research, extension, and infrastructure. No single approach
taken alone is likely to alleviate poverty. Specified breed
development through genetic enhancement is essential for
rapid growth in livestock production in the country. Focus
areas needs to be identified in breed improvement instead of
doing everything by everybody. Good research can result in
reducing poverty paving the way for overall economic
development.
* Dr.
Alamdar Hussain Malik is Secretary/Registrar, Pakistan
Veterinary Medical Council with the mandate to establish
uniform standards of basic and higher qualifications for
graduates & postgraduate in veterinary and animal husbandry
profession and to regulate the registration, practice and
conduct of the veterinarians. |
Pakissan.com;
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