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 (Indias 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 croplivestock 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, vicua 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 peoples 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

* Khler-Rollefson and Brunig (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 causeda 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) ACIARSADI Update 3.1 April. Better livelihoods from livestock: Scaling-up herd management strategies in croplivestock 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.aspAccessed 11 June 2009

Garnett, T. (2009). Livestock-related greenhouse gas emissions: impacts and options for policy makers.Environmental Science & Policy12 (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 Systems94 (2): 294-308

Khler-Rollefson, I. and Brunig, 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 Research22 (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.