Livestock food systems are complex and play an important role in societies by providing food, income, and nutrition. A value chain approach can provide a better understanding of these systems by mapping the flows of products, nutrients, and hazards across the entire system from production to consumption. Recent studies in Nairobi have shown gaps in understanding pathogen transmission dynamics and disconnects between active food systems and nutrition of the urban poor. Expanding such analyses to other locations can improve policy by clarifying these complex systems and focusing on what is important to measure like human behavior, governance, and ensuring food provides adequate nutrition.

1. Livestock Foods Systems and Health
Why a value chain approach can enhance nutrition
1
Jonathan Rushton
Barbara Häsler, Pablo Alarcon, Paula Dominguez Salas,
Mieghan Bruce, Wendy Beauvais, Maud Carron,
Mahmoud El Thoth, David Osegura, Joshua Onono,
Laura Cornelsen, Elaine Ferguson, Eric Fèvre, Delia
Grace, Javier Guitian
jrushton@rvc.ac.uk 19th August 2015

2. Acknowledgements
VEEPH Group at RVC: Barbara Häsler, Liz Jackson,
Pablo Alarcon, Paula Dominguez-Salas, Betty Bisdorf,
Will Gilbert, Javier Guitian, Dirk Pfeiffer
UrbanZoo: Eric Fèvre, Tim Robinson
ILRI: Delia Grace, Tom Randolph
Thank you to Robyn Alders for the invitation to speak
today
I want recognise the support of Norbrook
Pharmaceuticals and LCIRAH in the work I carry out
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3. The role of animals in society
How many of you have eaten meat, eggs, milk in the
last 24 hours?
Who is wearing leather shoes and belts?
Who is wearing a jumper or jacket made from wool?
Who has a pet?
Who has a horse?
And who is a vegan?
Even vegans are affected by animals as they compete
for resources in the production of food
3

4. Animals are a fundamental aspect of societies
Feed and clothe
people
Give pleasure
and company
Provide transport
Act as an investment
and store of wealth

5. Livestock food systems
– what do we really know
5
They produce cheap
and plentiful products
They generate
infectious diseases
They contribute
to obesity
They contribute
to greenhouse gases
They are poorly described
and poorly understood

6. Scavenge or grazing based system -
linkages
6
Scavenge
based system
Household environment
People
ASF
Labour
Local Market
€
Village environment
Feed
Feed
• Few people involved in the activity
• Contribution to income and nutrition variable
• Potentially few people impacted

7. 7
Cattle - Andean valleys, Bolivia Cattle in Uganda
Scavenging chicken - Honduras Llamas - high Andes, Bolivia
Sheep in Scotland

8. Small scale intensive systems
8
Small scale
Intensive
Household environment
PeopleLabour
Local MarketLocal Market
Feed
Other
inputs
ASF
€
€
€ €
National Market
Traders, transporters
Traders, financiers
• More people involved in the activity
• Contribution to income and nutrition can be substantial
• Many people can be impacted – producers, service providers and
consumers

9. 9
Duck breeding flock
- Egypt
Outdoor pigs
– East Anglia, UK
Beef cattle
– Northern Ireland
Dairy system –
Nairobi, Kenya
Sheep
– NSW, Australia
Chicken broiler flock
- Tanzania

10. Large scale intensive systems
10
Large scale
Intensive
Household environment
PeopleLabour
National and international
Market
• Many people involved spread over large geographical areas
• Contribution to income substantial
• Many people can be impacted – in particular traders, processors and
consumers
National and
International Market
Traders, transporters, processors
Traders, financiers
Feed
Other
inputs
ConsumersASF
€
€

11. 11
Intensive pig unit - Albania
Intensive dairy unit – Herts, UK
Foie Gras geese - France
Intensive poultry unit - Honduras

12. How have we been approaching the livestock
food systems recently
We have adopted an approach a value chain
analysis approach
Through a link with a joint British research council
funded project we have a major field site – Nairobi
We are linked to major ILRI and A4NH research
And we have other processes of data collection
and analysis with a focus on brucellosis – Albania,
Egypt, Mexico, Kazakstan, India
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13. Food system maps from UrbanZoo Project
13
Nutrition Demand
Courtesy of Pablo Alarcon

14. Human
Food Animals
Environment
Pet Animals
Wild Animals
Household
Food & People
People
Food
System
Animals & Feed
Animals
& Food
Pathogen attribution

15. What have we learnt?
Diets of the urban poor are inadequate in meeting
their micro nutrient needs
• There is a disconnect between very active food systems
and these people
Attribution of food borne diseases is poorly
understood
• The focus tends to be single pathogen blinkered
• There is a poor understanding of transmission dynamics
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16. Where to next
Development of models to examine the flows
through the food system
Understanding of the governance of these systems
and how it influences the flows -
Linking the social and economic analysis with
biological assessments of food and pathogens
• A wider UrbanZoo aim supported by Liverpool and
Edinburgh Universities
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17. Where to next
Expand the demand survey to have a
representative sample across Nairobi
• This was last done over ten years ago
Ensuring that the surveillance systems capture all
aspects of health
• including how the food system provides adequate
nutrition
Leading to better policy direction through a better
understanding of risks and resilience of the food
system
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18. And within the Tanzania and Zambia work
Using similar frameworks data collection and
analysis of the food systems in the project areas
We will be more gender and culture sensitive and
be more focused on nutrition
Mapping the flows of products, nutrients and
hazards across the system
Understanding the human behaviour across the
system
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19. Summary
Providing clarity on complex livestock food
systems
Avoiding simply measuring the measurable
Focus on measuring the important
19

20. Thank
you
University of Nairobi
International
Institute for the
Environment and
Development
Roslin Institute
Kenya Medical
Research Institute
Collaborators
The partners