The Role of Livestock, Food Security and Livelihoods - Nigel Poole, School of Oriental and African Studies
- 1. Four legs good, two legs good? Livestock and livelihoods of poor people Animal source foods, food security and climate change: burden, blessing or both? 12 June 2009 Nigel Poole Centre for Development, Environment and Policy SOAS University of London
- 2. Outline: livestock and livelihoods Terminology and the head count Why livestock matter The livestock ‘revolution’ Policies, projects and interventions How livestock matter to poor people Examples from developing regions Non-food outputs Animal traction - land, labour and drudgery Lifestyle: social and cultural aspects So what?
- 3. Livestock outputs and terms * Non-food products: fibres: wool/hair/silk hides/skins/feathers/furs bones and horns Other functions: draught transport recreation social exchange welfare/security Feedstuffs: meat/bone/blood meal ‘ Livestock ’ and ‘ poultry ’ generally refer to domestic animals, classified by genera and sometimes by species, often aggregated into groups. Not fish… Principal groups: cattle, buffaloes, camels, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, mules, asses, chickens Other groups variously important: other fowl: guinea fowl, ducks, geese, turkeys, ostriches rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons, fur animals, deer, reindeer, other camelids bees, silkworms, snails, rats (for mine clearance ** )… * Adapted from FAO Statistics Division ** Time Magazine, 2008 *** Neumann, Harris and Rogers (2002), and Garnett (2009, p.497) Nutrition: meat milk eggs honey ‘ Among poor societies… keeping a goat, a pig or a few chickens can make a critical difference to the adequacy of the diet’ ***
- 4. Livestock headcounts * * Adapted from FAO Statistics Division
- 5. ILRI: why livestock matter * The poorest people live in rural areas of tropical developing countries, and most keep farm animals cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry are among the most important assets of the poor and are the mainstays of their farming livestock are a source of income, food and fertiliser sustain their livelihoods, assets, health and environments ‘ Livestock is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors in developing countries, where it already accounts for a third of agricultural GDP’ ** 37% of the agricultural GDP and about 9% of the total GDP in Pakistan the ‘livestock revolution’: the demand for livestock foods in developing countries will more than double over the next twenty years driven by rising demand for poultry, pork, fish, eggs, beef and milk India: Operation Flood (India’s White Revolution) milk consumption nearly doubled between early 1980s- late 1990s *** offers several hundred million people the opportunity to raise themselves out of absolute poverty – involves intensification of production * ILRI (2009); ** WDR (2008, p.52); *** WDR (2008, p.59)
- 6. The livestock revolution in Indonesia * Indonesia is urbanising rapidly with more than 60% of the population expected to be living in urban areas by 2025. As people shift from farming areas to the city, it is inevitable there will be greater demand for livestock products World Bank predicts a growth rate of almost 6% per annum in meat demand in Indonesia by 2020 Smallholder farmers in South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara are important suppliers into this expanding market and, for the foreseeable future, cattle production is one of the best options for raising the welfare of smallholder crop–livestock households livestock production is one of the few ways that smallholder farmers can accumulate capital, given that livestock give much greater returns per unit of labour than grain * Australia Indonesia Partnership (2009)
- 7. Insurance in Moyale & Dire, Ethiopia * Drought interventions encouraged poor pastoralist communities to convert livestock to cash: ‘ Households were able to meet their immediate food and health care needs, while also protecting core livestock assets through buying feed, moving animals to better grazing areas, and providing veterinary care’ Selling livestock assets also supported the local community and economy, as the food and services for families and animals were purchased mostly at local markets and from local businesses * Bio-medicine.org
- 8. Laos: poverty & productivity interventions * Northern Region Livestock Development Project Introduction of more efficient livestock production and management technologies among ethnic minorities can considerably ease pressures on livelihoods as well as the environment, and also increase livestock productivity intervention will help to raise the income of poor ethnic groups facilitate their links with the regional markets emerging in the Greater Mekong Subregion include a gender dimension women will benefit as most of the small livestock is tended by them * ADB (2008)
- 9. Complex systems in the Peruvian Andes * Systems vary across agro-ecological zones water availability, altitude, frost, slope, market access Livestock species important to rural livelihoods cattle, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, vicuña and guanaco, pigs, guinea pigs, mules, donkey, horses and chickens Mixed crop-livestock production is based on pasture grazing of rangelands comprising native grass species also crop residues, agricultural by-products, and some improved feed resources Households rely on livestock for a range of outputs protein, energy, shelter, fertiliser, draught power, transportation, savings and insurance * Kristjanson, Krishna, Radeny, Kuan, Quilca, Sanchez-Urrelo, and Leon-Velarde (2007).
- 10. Poverty dynamics and the role of livestock Researchers from ILRI examined how households have moved into and out of poverty in 40 rural communities in two different highland regions the role played in these movements by different livestock assets and strategies a significant number of households had escaped poverty, while at the same time many households fell into poverty, eg through health (Puno region) and marriage-related (Cajamarca region) expenses diversification of income through livestock product sales, particularly dairy products and fibres intensification of production through improved breeds
- 11. Livestock-environment relationships The relationships of livestock to environmental management and climate change are often negative – but are also complex, sometimes complementary On pastoralism * : ‘ The whole of the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem is of particular concern ... Pastoral peoples living in the Mara ecosystem have less livestock per person than they did 20 years ago, and about half survive on an income of less than Kenyan shillings (Ksh) 70 (USD1) per day. If these trends continue, it's probable that the Mara in 20 years time will support very little wildlife and very poor pastoral people’ * ILRI (2008).
- 12. Non-food outputs: animal traction, transport and poor people’s livelihoods Animal traction is an example of technical change ‘ adoption of new or different methods of production in response to changing circumstances, pressures and opportunities with which farm households are confronted’ * primarily a substitute for labour - factor substitution the primary effect is to increase land area cultivated * Ellis (1989, p.53).
- 13. Number of draft animals and tractors in the US, 1910-60 * * Olmstead and Rhodes (2001).
- 14. US agricultural land & labor productivity indices,1910-1990 * Olmstead and Rhodes (2001)
- 15. The impact of the tractor in the US Replaced about 23 million draft animals was one of the great labor saving innovations of the twentieth century reduced labor requirements by 1.7 million workers by 1960 increased: the effective cropland base by 79 mn acres the effective area of pastureland by 80 mn acres the timeliness and quality of farm work crop yields the draft-power on farms by over four fold accounted for the disappearance of about one million farms by 1960 * Olmstead and Rhodes (2001)
- 16. Animal traction in poorer countries * : the purposes are land cultivation - increase in crop area per worker personal transport and transport of materials pastoral work processing such as milling household effects include reduction of drudgery extensification of production (wrt labour) poverty reduction * Starkey (1990).
- 17. Animal traction facilitates… timeliness of cultivation practices integration of crop and livestock enterprises manures utilisation of crop residues facilitates greater ability to respond to changing economic incentives increase in marketing opportunities reduced dependence on imported mechanisation, technology and fuel increased income opportunities through enabling to hire animals sell progeny
- 18. Other impacts of animal traction… increase in risk… children can lose education opportunities gender effects are women beneficiaries? may exacerbate income differentials high inputs and working capital requirements implements, repair facilities, veterinary care, feedstuffs significant requirement for capital or credit for initial purchase
- 19. Social and cultural aspects * Fundamental difference in animal production between industrialized and traditional societies: ‘ management is not directed towards maximum performance and short-term economic gain, but instead geared towards minimizing risks and ensuring long-term survival… animals represent not just a production factor, but form a part of the cultural identity of a pastoral group. Livestock may have ritual and religious meaning and often figure as important items in social exchange and relationships… survival of humans and animals is still closely interlinked’ * Köhler-Rollefson and Bräunig (1998).
- 20. Lifestyle and diet: the Innu of Labrador * Policy interventions of ‘village-isation’ have changed the hunting, gathering and trapping lifestyle to sedentary village life ‘ cultural, spiritual and physical dispossession’ Nutrition and physical transitions have caused a marked decline in individual physical and mental health and in community coherence Cultural continuity through hunting is a means to decelerate and possibly reverse their decline Similar considerations may apply to other ‘indigenous’ peoples * Samson and Pretty (2006).
- 21. Livestock and livelihoods research agenda * * developed from Smith, Khoa and Lorenzen (2005). Industrialisation Diversification for accumulation Specialisation Diversification for semi-subsistence Subsistence/ pastoralists Hunter-gatherers climate change local NR management agriculture people & ‘community’ Complementary/competitive interactions with: Household participation and equity: age & gender effects Multiple functions including foods & food security Systems vary according to the level of dependency & intensity of production
- 22. References Asian Development Bank. (2008). Northern Region Sustainable Livelihoods Through Livestock Development Project. http://www.adb.org/Documents/Profiles/LOAN/35297013.ASP. Accessed 11 June 2009 Australia Indonesia Partnership. (2009) ACIAR–SADI Update 3.1 April. Better livelihoods from livestock: Scaling-up herd management strategies in crop–livestock systems in Lombok. Makassar, Indonesia Bio -Medicine.org. Livestock interventions can protect lives, livelihoods. http://news.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-3/Livestock-interventions-can-protect-lives--livelihoods-1164-2/. Accessed 11 June 2009 Ellis, F. (1989). Principles of Agricultural Economics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. FAO Statistics Division, http:// www.fao.org/es/ess/rmlive.asp Accessed 11 June 2009 Garnett, T. (2009). Livestock-related greenhouse gas emissions: impacts and options for policy makers. Environmental Science & Policy 12 (4): 491-503. ILRI. (2008). People moves. http:// www.ilri.org/ILRIPubAware/ShowDetail.asp?CategoryID = TS&ProductReferenceNo =TS_080130_001 . Accessed 11 June 2009 ILRI. (2009). http:// www.ilri.org/home.asp?CCID =52&SID=1 Kristjanson, P., Krishna, A., Radeny, M., Kuan, J., Quilca, G., Sanchez-Urrelo, A. and Leon-Velarde, C. (2007). Poverty dynamics and the role of livestock in the Peruvian Andes. Agricultural Systems 94 (2): 294-308 Köhler-Rollefson, I. and Bräunig, J. (1998). Anthropological veterinary medicine: the need for indigenizing the curriculum. Paper presented at the 9th AITVM Conference in Harare, 14th-18th September. Accessed from http://www.vetwork.org.uk/ilse2.htm. Accessed 11 June 2009 Neumann, C., Harris, D.M. and Rogers, L.M. (2002). Contribution of animal source foods in improving diet quality and function in children in the developing world. Nutrition Research 22 (1): 193-220 Olmstead, A.L. and Rhodes, P.W. (2001). Reshaping the landscape: the impact and diffusion of the tractor in American Agriculture, 1910-60. Journal of Economic History 61(3): 663-698 Samson, C. and Pretty, J. (2006). Environmental and health benefits of hunting lifestyles and diets for the Innu of Labrador. Food Policy 31(6): 528-553 Smith, L.E.D., Khoa, S.N. and Lorenzen, K. (2005). Livelihood functions of inland fisheries: policy implications in developing countries. Water Policy 7: 359-383. Starkey, P. (1990). Animal traction for agricultural development in West Africa: production, impact, profitability and constraints. Third Workshop of the West Africa Animal Traction Network, 7-12 July 1988 Saly, Senegal, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, Ede-Wageningen, The Netherlands Time Magazine, 2008, Monday 2 June. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1811203,00.html . Accessed 11 June 2009 World Bank (2008). World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development . Washington.