1. Opportunities for a sustainable and
competitive livestock sector in Africa
Jimmy Smith, ILRI Director General
African Livestock Conference and ExhibiƟon (ALiCE), Nairobi, 26−28 June 2013

2. • The global livestock sector is growing rapidly
and will continue to do so into the foreseeable
future.
• Major opportunities exist for
Africa’s livestock sector.
• Africa recognizes the central importance
of agriculture for development − but
livestock are still often under-represented –we
must change that.
• Research solutions are needed to
transform Africa’s livestock sector.
• New investments and institutional reforms are
also needed to take these successes to scale.
• Acting now, together and coherently,
we can ensure that Africa’s livestock
sector is competitive and sustainable.
Key messages

3. The global livestock sector is growing rapidly -- 40% of
agriculture GDP but receives very little public investment

4. 4 out of 5 of the highest value
global commodities are livestock

5. Population growth
Over 9 billion people
to feed by 2050
Income growth
7 of the 10 fastest-growing
economies in the world
over the next five years are in Africa.
Urbanization
Africa’s current population of 1.1 billion
is expected to double,
to 2.3 billion, by 2050,
and over half will live in urban areas.
Drivers of global livestock sector trends

6. Rosegrant et al. 2009
The 4 billion people who live
on less than US$10 a day
(primarily in developing
countries) represent a food
market of about $2.9 trillion
per year. (Hammond et al. 2007)
• 17 billion domestic animals
• Asset value $1.4 trillion
• Employs 1.3 billion people
Economic opportunities in the livestock sector

7. Provides food and nutritional security
BUT overconsumption can cause obesity
Powers economic development
BUT equitable development can be a challenge
Improves human health
BUT animal-human/emerging diseases
and unsafe foods need to be addressed
Enhances the environment
BUT pollution, land/water degradation,
GHG emissions and biodiversity losses
must be greatly reduced
Opportunities and challenges
in the livestock sector

8. ILRI Spearheading a
New Way Forward
Major opportunities for Africa’s livestock sector

9. 3 out of 6 of the highest value
African commodities are livestock
Source: FAOSTAT, 2013

10. FAO, 2012
Annual % growth in consumption of livestock
products between 1995 and 2005

11. 11
FAO, 2012Based on anticipated change in absolute tonnes of product comparing 2000 and 2030
Percentage growth in demand
for livestock products: 2000−2030

12. 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
1961 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Quantity(Tonnes)
Africa total meat trade
Imports
Exports
Calculated from FAO data (FAOSTAT, 2013)
• Production has not
keep pace with
consumption growth
• Thus, Africa expected
to continue being a
net importer of
animal-sourced foods
–except we do more
• Global trade share:
3%
• Intra-regional trade
(2009): 10%
Africa is a net importer of animal-source foods

13. • Developing, not developed, countries (Africa significant)
• Critical intervention point is smallholder producers
• Transforming the sector to meet demand
in environmentally sustainable and healthy ways:
take to scale research based successes
> facilitate access to markets
> technology (feeds, breeds, health)
> enabling policies, and new institutional and business
models
Future livestock sector
markets and opportunities

14. Smallholders dominate the livestock sector
--attaining the twin goals--
• Small and medium enterprises dominate
(70% of current production) can be made
competitive with large ones –some are
already
• Attention to this sector (as well) will
contribute, not only to attaining food
and nutrition security but to reducing
rural poverty as well --twin goals

15. ILRI Spearheading a
New Way Forward
Africa recognizes the central importance of
agriculture − but livestock are still often under-
represented

16. Africa’s livestock sector is complex
Inherent complexities
of the livestock sector
• Intersects with all other smallholder
agricultural production systems
• Impinges on key environmental
and human health issues
• Forces hard trade-offs, such as
food, feed or biofuels?

17. Africa’s agricultural commitments: Comprehensive
Africa Agriculture Development Programme
CAADP seeks to:
•Employ agriculture-led growth to achieve
MDG1 of halving poverty and hunger by 2015
•Pursue 6% average annual sector growth at national level
•Allocate 10% of national budgets to the agriculture sector
•Exploit regional complementarities
and cooperation to boost growth
•Support evidence-based policymaking
•Include farmers, agribusiness, civil society
in partnerships and alliances

18. CAADP and the livestock sector
• Role of the livestock sector (including the dairy sector)
not fully appreciated in original 4 CAADP pillars but later
articulated in CAADP Companion Document.
• Contribution of livestock sector generally downplayed
partly due to lack of empirical evidence.
• Emerging empirical evidence ==> potential contribution
of livestock sector is much larger than currently believed.
• Livestock sector has big potential to contribute to economic
growth, poverty reduction and food security.

19. New investments and reforms are needed
to take these successes to scale

20. Both investments and reforms
needed in Africa’s livestock sector
• Investments as well as policy and institutional reforms
that target African livestock markets are needed.
• These can ensure that the business opportunities
generated by the growing demand for animal-sourced foods
translate into widespread benefits for the population.
• Research, development, investment, businesses and farmers
themselves need to be better aligned and connected.
• To meet the growing demand with sustainable
African production systems rather than imports,
we’re going to have to do things differently.

21. Joint public-private testing of innovations:
• Innovative franchise models are providing smallholders
with access to agro-vets (‘Sidai’ in Kenya)
• New low-cost, pen-side diagnostic tools
are providing diagnostics for smallholder settings
• New mobile phone systems are helping farmers monitor
the health and reproduction of their animals (‘iCow’ in Kenya)
• Index based livestock insurance is reducing risk for pastoralists
using banking, insurance and IT from private sector innovation
• East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is connecting
farmers to service providers and new business opportunities
through a hub model
Examples of private-public synergies

22. Acting now, together and coherently,
we can ensure that Africa’s livestock sector
is competitive and sustainable

23. What must we do to position the livestock
sector on Africa –some thoughts
• More public sector attention to create an
appropriate enabling environment –for large
and small producers
• Pay attention to local markets and the
promotion of continental trade -The value of
the market for livestock products in Africa:
2006/7 US$33b by 2050 US$107b
• Shift from a hazard to a risk based approach to
regulating food safety, and market access and
trade policies
• To promote access to markets –link rural
infrastructure development to the needs of the
agriculture sector
• Avoid reckless attempts at ‘leap frogging’
• Strengthen research and delivery services –
market access promotes a technology demand
pull

24. • The global livestock sector is growing rapidly
and will continue to do so into the foreseeable
future.
• Major opportunities exist for
Africa’s livestock sector.
• Africa recognizes the central importance
of agriculture for development − but
livestock are still often under-represented –we
must change that.
• Research solutions are needed to
transform Africa’s livestock sector.
• New investments and institutional reforms are
also needed to take these successes to scale.
• Acting now, together and coherently,
we can ensure that Africa’s livestock
sector is competitive and sustainable.
Key messages

25. Thank you

26. The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.
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