Livestock as a source of wealth and food security
Friday, 8 June 2007
POVERTY indicates lack of sources of income for a family from all available means. Poverty can also be measured by lack of assets (wealth). In rural areas, employment in farming is the main source of income. When such sources of income are not available due to flood/drought and some other natural causes, food insecurity becomes evident and people suffer from hunger.
It may be noted that Monga areas in greater Rangpur have been crisis prone for a long time during certain lean season. Most of the poor families do not have cultivable land other than a small home-shed. Hence they have no other valuable assets to store value that can be used during period of unemployment. In these areas breeding livestock has been identified as a source of employment and asset building for poor landless families. The previous four-party alliance government distributed cattle to thousands of families in the char areas of Nilphamari and Kurigram districts and other parts of the country. It will be interesting to find out whether the supply of cattle to the poor families has changed their socio-economic and psychological condition. Known as wealth-effects assets in the form of livestock might change expectation of the families and their behaviour. Here the relevant measures should be taken by the government of Bangladesh (GoB) as well as private sector. Only then real outputs can be obtained.
Food security embraces food production, stability of supply and access to food. Livestock playa an important role in all three aspects: they make a significant contribution to food production through the provision of high-value protein-rich animal products; they indirectly support crop production through draught power and manure and, thus, they help stabilise supply; and finally they are the most significant source of income and store of wealth for smallholders, thereby providing access to food.
Over the past 20 years, meat and egg production have risen by 127 and 331 per cent respectively in the developing countries. Yet, most people in these countries cannot afford adequate animal protein; the per capital consumption of meat is only 17.7 kg/year, compared to 81.6 kg/year in the developed countries. In the latter, about 60 per cent of dietary protein comes from animal products, compared to only 22 per cent in the developing countries.
Therefore, there is substantial room for the expansion of livestock production. This can however raise problems but it is also true that animal product offer several advantages over crops. For example:
o Meat and milk can be produced year-round, being less seasonal than cereals, fruits and vegetables;
o Animals, in particular the smaller species, can be slaughtered as the need arises, either for food or income; and
o Both milk and meat can be preserved to cover periods of food shortage.
However, the role of livestock in the developing countries is not confined to the provision of food. On the contrary, their non-food functions, even if in gradual decline in low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs), are still very prominent.
The yield-stabilising and yield-enhancing role of livestock is a main contribution to crop agriculture in LIFDCs. It also holds out the promise for future intensification of the mixed fanning system. In the developing countries, more than half of the arable area (52 per cent) is cultivated with the help of draught animal power and more than half of the total fertiliser applied is provided in the form of manure. This proportion can be estimated to exceed 70 per cent in LIFDCs. This indicates that intensification cannot take place without fully acknowledging the resource-enhancing and stabilising role of livestock. It follows that development programmes addressing food security must explicitly take this function into account.
Livestock plays an important role in the economy, both at the rural and national level. A very important factor is that of added security to food supply and production, For the farmer, livestock provides liquid assets, a hedge against inflation and a means of reducing the risks associated with crops when used in mixed fanning systems.
Sales of livestock products provide purchasing power, and thus, access to food. In fact, the value added through livestock production and processing is often the only outlet of smallholders in rural communities to the monitised economy. It forms an entry point for development -- an entry point that has been neglected because the image of livestock has been clouded with negative environmental and social effects. These negative effects, however, are hardly relevant to farmers and livestock holders in LIFDCs and the development community continues to miss opportunities that arise from the strong market drive associated with the surge in demand for animal products. The link between this explosion in demand and agricultural development is income.
National food security programmes cannot afford to leave out the demand-driven sector, even though, prima facie, there may be competition between food and feed uses of some commodities.
If national food security is to be achieved, we cannot afford the common nostalgic desire to maintain or revive mixed farming systems with closed nutrient and energy cycles. Mixed farming can be substantially improved by creating outlets to the overall economy.
More than that of food production, livestock's most important role in food security is to be seen in income generation, starting from the producer down the chain to marketing and processing.
There are two distinctly different roles that the livestock sector has to perform if the double objectives of minimal food requirements and protection of natural resources are to be met. The resource-driven sector needs to perform its resource management role effectively within a fair institutional and policy framework. The demand-driven sector needs to be pushed to optimal efficiencies and back to areas where livestock is not a nuisance but a benefit.
In order to tap the potential fully that livestock offers for achieving the dual objectives of food security and protection of natural resources, international organisations and all stakeholders do need to make concerted efforts for changing the approach of discrimination against livestock. We have seen that livestock production bears a number of social and environmental risks. But we are confident if a right set of policies and technologies is adopted to deal with these hazards, livestock will give a great benefit to society.
It may be noted that Monga areas in greater Rangpur have been crisis prone for a long time during certain lean season. Most of the poor families do not have cultivable land other than a small home-shed. Hence they have no other valuable assets to store value that can be used during period of unemployment. In these areas breeding livestock has been identified as a source of employment and asset building for poor landless families. The previous four-party alliance government distributed cattle to thousands of families in the char areas of Nilphamari and Kurigram districts and other parts of the country. It will be interesting to find out whether the supply of cattle to the poor families has changed their socio-economic and psychological condition. Known as wealth-effects assets in the form of livestock might change expectation of the families and their behaviour. Here the relevant measures should be taken by the government of Bangladesh (GoB) as well as private sector. Only then real outputs can be obtained.
Food security embraces food production, stability of supply and access to food. Livestock playa an important role in all three aspects: they make a significant contribution to food production through the provision of high-value protein-rich animal products; they indirectly support crop production through draught power and manure and, thus, they help stabilise supply; and finally they are the most significant source of income and store of wealth for smallholders, thereby providing access to food.
Over the past 20 years, meat and egg production have risen by 127 and 331 per cent respectively in the developing countries. Yet, most people in these countries cannot afford adequate animal protein; the per capital consumption of meat is only 17.7 kg/year, compared to 81.6 kg/year in the developed countries. In the latter, about 60 per cent of dietary protein comes from animal products, compared to only 22 per cent in the developing countries.
Therefore, there is substantial room for the expansion of livestock production. This can however raise problems but it is also true that animal product offer several advantages over crops. For example:
o Meat and milk can be produced year-round, being less seasonal than cereals, fruits and vegetables;
o Animals, in particular the smaller species, can be slaughtered as the need arises, either for food or income; and
o Both milk and meat can be preserved to cover periods of food shortage.
However, the role of livestock in the developing countries is not confined to the provision of food. On the contrary, their non-food functions, even if in gradual decline in low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs), are still very prominent.
The yield-stabilising and yield-enhancing role of livestock is a main contribution to crop agriculture in LIFDCs. It also holds out the promise for future intensification of the mixed fanning system. In the developing countries, more than half of the arable area (52 per cent) is cultivated with the help of draught animal power and more than half of the total fertiliser applied is provided in the form of manure. This proportion can be estimated to exceed 70 per cent in LIFDCs. This indicates that intensification cannot take place without fully acknowledging the resource-enhancing and stabilising role of livestock. It follows that development programmes addressing food security must explicitly take this function into account.
Livestock plays an important role in the economy, both at the rural and national level. A very important factor is that of added security to food supply and production, For the farmer, livestock provides liquid assets, a hedge against inflation and a means of reducing the risks associated with crops when used in mixed fanning systems.
Sales of livestock products provide purchasing power, and thus, access to food. In fact, the value added through livestock production and processing is often the only outlet of smallholders in rural communities to the monitised economy. It forms an entry point for development -- an entry point that has been neglected because the image of livestock has been clouded with negative environmental and social effects. These negative effects, however, are hardly relevant to farmers and livestock holders in LIFDCs and the development community continues to miss opportunities that arise from the strong market drive associated with the surge in demand for animal products. The link between this explosion in demand and agricultural development is income.
National food security programmes cannot afford to leave out the demand-driven sector, even though, prima facie, there may be competition between food and feed uses of some commodities.
If national food security is to be achieved, we cannot afford the common nostalgic desire to maintain or revive mixed farming systems with closed nutrient and energy cycles. Mixed farming can be substantially improved by creating outlets to the overall economy.
More than that of food production, livestock's most important role in food security is to be seen in income generation, starting from the producer down the chain to marketing and processing.
There are two distinctly different roles that the livestock sector has to perform if the double objectives of minimal food requirements and protection of natural resources are to be met. The resource-driven sector needs to perform its resource management role effectively within a fair institutional and policy framework. The demand-driven sector needs to be pushed to optimal efficiencies and back to areas where livestock is not a nuisance but a benefit.
In order to tap the potential fully that livestock offers for achieving the dual objectives of food security and protection of natural resources, international organisations and all stakeholders do need to make concerted efforts for changing the approach of discrimination against livestock. We have seen that livestock production bears a number of social and environmental risks. But we are confident if a right set of policies and technologies is adopted to deal with these hazards, livestock will give a great benefit to society.