Livestock farming in developing
countries: An essential resource
Derek Baker
International Livestock Research Institute
19th World Meat Congress. Paris, France 4-6 June 2012

Outline
1. The livestock resource in developing countries
2. Demand and markets for livestock in developing countries
3. Knowledge generation and use : deriving value from the use of the resource
… for “Better Lives Through Livestock”

ILRI
ILRI
• a member of the CGIAR Consortium which conducts food and
environmental research
 to help alleviate poverty and increase food security,
 while protecting the natural resource base.
 700 staff
 100 scientists and
researchers
 more than 30 scientific
disciplines
 Two large campuses
(Kenya, Ethiopia).
 2012 budget USD 60 mill.
 ILRI works with a range of
partners.
 ILRI vision A world made better for poor people in developing countries by
improving agricultural systems in which livestock are important.

The Livestock Resource in Developing Countries
Over 600 million of the World’s poor depend on livestock
About 95% of these live in extreme poverty
Some 150 million livestock keepers are landless
Thornton et al. 2002
Meat, milk eggs, and fish: a reliable source of high-quality, readily-absorbed protein
and micronutrients
Livestock perform multiple functions in developing countries

The Livestock Resource in Developing Countries
The changing nature of livestock systems
W. Africa 1966 – pastoral system
W. Africa 2004 – crop-livestock system
Mixed systems in
developing countries
produce ca. 50% of the
World’s cereals Courtesy of B. Gerard

The Livestock Resource in Developing Countries
Livestock systems in developing countries: comparison with developed countries
Developing country Developed country
Scale small / smallholder large
Enterprise form diverse specialised
Objective multiple profits
Market destination local, regional global
Market form informal formal
Livestock systems in developing countries: diversity and change
- Pastoral - Mixed crop-livestock - Urban and peri-urban - Off-farm employment
- Agro-pastoral - Housed animals - Intensive monogastric - Gender impacts
Livestock systems in developing countries: success or failure?
Smallholder systems are competitive, in many contexts
Informal markets serve the bulk of the world’s poor consumers
Informal markets are significant employers
Livestock systems in developing countries respond to interventions
(technology, policy, organisation)

The poor can achieve better lives through livestock

Demand and markets
Demand: increasing
in the developing world
The 4 billion people living
on less than $10 a day
constitute a food market of
US$ 2.9 trillion per year.
(Hammond et al 2007).
Rosegrant et al. 2009
Based original figure by IFPR/John McDermott 2012.

Demand and markets
Demand: the poor are willing to pay for meat products’ quality and safety
Bangladesh: consumers’ weights attached to
quality attributes:
Goat
Attribute meat Beef Notes
Breed 30% 33% (Local preferred)
Fat cover 27% 27% (Lean preferred)
Ethiopia: % of consumers WTP a
Sex 26% 22% (Male preferred)
price premium for beef attributes Price 17% 19% (Lower preferred)
Low Middle High
income income Income
Safety 53% 63% 81%
Kenya: WTP for beef attributes
Good quality 51% 64% 83% Premium
Attribute (USD/kg)*
Official inspection stamp 1.42
Cleanness of the meat 1.12
Soft texture 1.00
Low fat cover 0.62
Jabbar et al. 2011 * approx, due to exchange rate change
Based original figure by IFPR/John McDermott 2012.

Better lives through livestock is good business

Deriving Value from the Livestock Resource
Market-driven change
Innovation in low-value livestock products:
• Improved organisation
• Systems adaptation to change
Whole-value-chain testing of market-led interventions
• Identifying key steps/actions
• Capacity-building
• Packaging the means of change

Deriving Value from the Livestock Resource
Environment
Improved feed supplements, and improved animal
production, to lower greenhouse gas emissions
• per animal
• per dollar earned in markets
Pastoral systems
• early warning
• commercial insurance schemes

Deriving Value from the Livestock Resource
Using technology to deliver improved productivity
Animal disease:
• better use of monitoring disease dynamics in
livestock
• Infection-treatment method (ITM) vaccination
against East Coast Fever
Applying knowledge on livestock genetics
• better use of traits (e.g. disease resistance)
• mapping genetic diversity
Improved feeds (e.g. dual purpose crops)

Deriving Value from the Livestock Resource
Improving human health and nutrition
Managing health risks in informal markets
• Evidence on risks, costs
• Incentive-based management of risks
• Policy advice and capacity building
Zoonoses and emerging disease
• Reducing burdens of zoonoses
• Targeting neglected zoonoses (e.g. bovine TB)
• Foresight for emerging disease and its drivers
(e.g. Rift Valley Fever + climate change)
Maximizing nutritional benefits from livestock
• Role of livestock products in diets of poor
• Improving access to nutrition

Knowledge is the key to better lives through livestock

Livestock Farming in Developing
Countries: using an essential
resource
The poor can achieve better lives through livestock
Better lives through livestock is good business
Knowledge is the key to better lives through livestock

Contact: Derek Baker d.baker@cgiar.org
International Livestock Research Institute www.ilri.org