Intensification of livestock production remains an important goal for improving food security, but its role and form may need adjusting in light of sustainability concerns. While the current focus on intensification through the Livestock and Fish Program aims to increase animal protein availability for poor communities, recommended daily meat consumption levels are converging globally at lower levels to benefit human and environmental health. Intensification will still be required to meet demand from a growing population more efficiently through reduced land and resource use per unit of animal-sourced food produced. However, the program's focus could be modified to take greater account of building system resilience alongside economic goals.

1. Should intensification remain the core driver of
livestock improvement initiatives with the Livestock
and Fish Program in its current form, and in some
expended form
Michael Blummel
Livestock and Fish Review and Planning Meeting
March 23-25, 2015
Virtual

2. Key considerations regards role of
intensification
Rational for current CRP: more animal sourced
food for and by the poor
Context: “Livestock Revolution”

3. Current daily meat consumption in different spheres of the globe and convergent meat1
consumption levels recommended for 2050 based on human health and environmental2
considerations3
Country/category Current consumption Recommended consumption (g/d)1
Developed countries 224 g/d
Latin America 147 g/d
90 g/d or 20 g/d animal protein
Developing countries 47 g/d
Africa 31g/d
Data modified from McMichael et al. (2007) by Blümmel et al. (2014). 1
A maximum of 50% red4
meat. ASF equivalents: 45 kg of fish, 60 kg of eggs and 230 kg of milk5

4. (2005-06) 2020 2020 (fixed LP
Milk (million tons) 91.8 172 172
yield/day (kg) 3.6 5.24 6.76
Numbers (000) 69759 89920 * 69759
Metabolizable energy requirements (MJ x 109)
Maintenance 1247.64 1608.22 1247.6
Production 573.94 1075.00 1075.00
total 1821.58 2683.22 2326.66
Feed Req.( m tons) 247.50 364.57 315.6
Anandan et al. 2013
* Calculated based on Compound Aggregated Growth Rate (CAGR)
Livestock revolution: Intensification and feed
energy and biomass requirements

5. Assume:
Farmer A: 5 cattle each giving 2 liter milk day
Farmer B: 1 cattle giving 10 liters milk per day
Which farmer needs more feed?
Which farmer need more water, produces more GHG
Would similar considerations apply, say to labor?
It seems obvious but….

6. Conclusions
Under the assumption of growing demand for ASF to be met by
domestic or regional produce, intensification
will be required because:
Natural resource use relative to ASF produce need to be reduced
GHG relative to ASF produce need to be reduced
ASF production needs to be economically and socially attractive
Focus can adjusted be modified if L & F will be charged with taking on
more system and resilience aspects

7. CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food secure future. The CGIAR
Research Program on Livestock and Fish aims to increase the productivity of small-scale livestock and fish systems
in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and fish more available and affordable across the developing world.
CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish
livestockfish.cgiar.org