Livestock Policies for Poverty Alleviation: Theory and Practical Evidence from Africa, Asia and Latin America

Increasing population, income growth and urbanization in developing countries are boosting the demand for food of animal origin. This trend, which has been dubbed the 'Livestock Revolution', provides significant opportunities for poverty reduction, an estimated 42 percent of the poor worldwide being dependent on livestock as part of their livelihood. This paper presents a framework for pro-poor livestock policy analysis and investigates whether policy makers in eighteen developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are tapping into the pro-poor opportunities offered by livestock sector development. The paper argues that, given a functional macroeconomic and institutional framework, livestock policies would be pro-poor if they included: (i) policies 'establishing the basics for livestock production', including secure and adequate access to basic production inputs, such as land and water, as well as risk coping mechanisms for natural disasters and price shocks; (ii) policies 'kick-starting domestic livestock markets', such as a pro-poor functioning of the credit market, animal health and extension services delivery, and adequate access to output markets for smallholders; and (iii) policies 'supporting and expanding livestock markets', encompassing research for improving feeds and livestock breeds, food quality control and trade-supporting policies. It is found that in the last twenty years domestic livestock production has largely not satisfied increased national meat/milk demand and that few countries have designed a comprehensive pro-poor strategy for the development of the livestock sector. Agricultural sector and livestock policies, which are surprisingly consistent across all geographical regions, tend in fact to decouple livestock production from poverty reduction and overemphasize policies 'kick-starting domestic livestock markets' and 'supporting and expanding livestock markets' vis-à-vis policies reducing vulnerability and providing secure access to basic production inputs. Yet, in several circumstances lack of secure access to land, feed and water might prevent the poor from positively reacting to input and output market policies. Current livestock policies are thus unbalanced, and governments should better target the causal links between livestock development and poverty reduction, taking into account the broader set of market and institutional imperfections preventing the resource poor from benefiting from the growing demand for livestock products. Only when the poor do have secure access to basic production inputs, in fact, will input and output market and trade-supporting policies contribute to take them out of low-wealth-low-growth vicious circles.Food Security and Poverty, Livestock Production/Industries,

Livestock and livelihoods in urban Niger

This article measures the magnitude of the role livestock activities play in urban Niger and identifies the main socioeconomic determinants for owning livestock in urban environments. Almost 40 percent of households in urban Niger own livestock, mainly as a source of additional income. Urban households are more likely to own small ruminants and poultry rather than large ruminants, as land and feed are not easily available in urban areas. Poorer households are more likely to rear livestock than households that are better off, even though wealthy dwellers own a higher number of animals. Male-headed households tend to have a higher number of animals than households headed by females. Owning livestock significantly contributes to the livelihood of poor households. The additional income plays a major role when such households face unexpected expenses. Tests using both descriptive and empirical data show that owning livestock does not constitute a source of animal food in the nutrition of members of these urban households. Understanding the role livestock activities play in the urban context will help local governments and development organizations better tailor, define, and address policies related to livestock ownership

A Comparative Overview of the Livestock-Environment Interactions in Asia and Sub-saharan Africa

Understanding the interactions between livestock and the environment in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa is essential to sustainable livestock sector development. In this comparative overview, we review the available evidence on the extent of grassland degradation, land, and water pollution by nutrients and microorganisms, water stress, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions and their relation to livestock production in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. We also draw on Asia's past livestock development trajectories and their impacts to provide guidance for future sustainable livestock development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Forward-looking policies and programs that anticipate long-term changes in the livestock sector and that assess trade-offs between policies and investments in multiple environmental domains in Sub-Saharan Africa are required to support sustainable development and guide policy decisions in the years ahead, from an environmental, social and public health perspective

Livestock Policies for Poverty Alleviation: Theory and Practical Evidence from Africa, Asia and Latin America

Increasing population, income growth and urbanization in developing countries are boosting the demand for food of animal origin. This trend, which has been dubbed the 'Livestock Revolution', provides significant opportunities for poverty reduction, an estimated 42 percent of the poor worldwide being dependent on livestock as part of their livelihood. This paper presents a framework for pro-poor livestock policy analysis and investigates whether policy makers in eighteen developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are tapping into the pro-poor opportunities offered by livestock sector development. The paper argues that, given a functional macroeconomic and institutional framework, livestock policies would be pro-poor if they included: (i) policies 'establishing the basics for livestock production', including secure and adequate access to basic production inputs, such as land and water, as well as risk coping mechanisms for natural disasters and price shocks; (ii) policies 'kick-starting domestic livestock markets', such as a pro-poor functioning of the credit market, animal health and extension services delivery, and adequate access to output markets for smallholders; and (iii) policies 'supporting and expanding livestock markets', encompassing research for improving feeds and livestock breeds, food quality control and trade-supporting policies. It is found that in the last twenty years domestic livestock production has largely not satisfied increased national meat/milk demand and that few countries have designed a comprehensive pro-poor strategy for the development of the livestock sector. Agricultural sector and livestock policies, which are surprisingly consistent across all geographical regions, tend in fact to decouple livestock production from poverty reduction and overemphasize policies 'kick-starting domestic livestock markets' and 'supporting and expanding livestock markets' vis-à-vis policies reducing vulnerability and providing secure access to basic production inputs. Yet, in several circumstances lack of secure access to land, feed and water might prevent the poor from positively reacting to input and output market policies. Current livestock policies are thus unbalanced, and governments should better target the causal links between livestock development and poverty reduction, taking into account the broader set of market and institutional imperfections preventing the resource poor from benefiting from the growing demand for livestock products. Only when the poor do have secure access to basic production inputs, in fact, will input and output market and trade-supporting policies contribute to take them out of low-wealth-low-growth vicious circles

Dairy farmers’ access to market in Uganda: Observing the unobservable

Enhancing access to output markets for smallholder farmers is recognized as an effective tool for poverty reduction: the more smallholders produce and sell to the market, the higher their income and overall livelihoods. The underlying assumption, which is rarely spelled-out, is that market access represents a major incentive for smallholders to shift their production objective from subsistence to commercial, i.e. to set up sustainable businesses, be they either small or large, around their agricultural assets. This paper relies on the Uganda 2011/12 National Panel Survey (NPS) to investigate the linkages between access to market and dairy farmers’ self-reported subsistence and commercial production objectives. Market access, including both market participation and intensity of participation, is found to depend on a variety of observable farmers’ characteristics. Market participation, however, does also depend on whether the farmer considers himself or herself as commercially-oriented. There are thus some unobservable characteristics, such as smallholder’s risk attitude and willingness to invest in dairy, that influence farmer’s decision to participate in markets, and that are difficult to capture using traditional household and farm level data. This makes it challenging for decision-makers to design and implement policies that utilize markets as a tool out of poverty

Supply and Demand for Livestock Data in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from a Stakeholder Survey

The results of the livestock data survey conducted by the Livestock Data Innovation Project are not necessarily representative of all stakeholders' data concerns, as they are based on a small and non-random sample. However, they support the idea that, whilst livestock data / indicators are essential for the largest majority of stakeholders, rarely are the available data / indicators sufficient for the purposes of investment, development and research

Data and indicators for evidence-based livestock sector policies and investments

Livestock sector policies' and investments' effectiveness is enhanced by their evidence base. However, the lack of mainstream literature on the information needs of decision-makers makes it difficult to appreciate the data and indicators necessary for effective policies and investments. This review systematizes the types of data and indicators that decision-makers need for effectively formulating and implementing policies and investments in the livestock sector through the various phases of the decision-making process. These span the large set of tasks associated with assessing the contribution of livestock to development, to identifying priority areas of investments, to monitoring and evaluation. Six domains for such data are identified and discussed, with key contributions from the literature identified. Basic data and indicators provide critical information to decision-makers, with statistical analyses linking inputs and outputs further improving the decision-making processes. However, these are rarely readily available to draft an evidence based policy implementation plan. Indeed, the implementation of policy reforms and investments usually co-occurs with some form of institutional change - new ways of doing things - which calls for changed behaviours for both implementers and beneficiaries. Elements of a statistical system that is largely effective in promoting sustainable development of the livestock sector generally is one that generates good quality livestock data and indicators representative of the country as a whole and major livestock production systems, uses inclusive participatory policy processes and consultation with experts, synthesizes existing experience and analysis, and uses both rigorous ex ante analysis and pilots to assist decision-makers in designing and executing policies and investments, and implementing monitoring and evaluation

Scaling-up community-driven development. Evidence from the Philippines

Community-driven development programmes are an increasingly common component of poverty reduction strategies. Most have been on a small-scale so far, but efforts are being made to scale successful experiences up to the country level. This article quantifies the impact of the community-driven 'farming system development' (FSD) adopted by the Philippine government in selected rice-producing agrarian communities and simulates the potential effects of scaling FSD up to the country level using a general equilibrium framework. Results show that the FSD approach could be an effective poverty reduction strategy, instigating poor farmers to diversify towards nontraditional crops and the rice processing industry to benefit from lower prices; however, existing rice import quotas severely constraint the size of such potential benefits.

Livestock Activity Data Guidance (L-ADG): Methods and guidance on compilation of activity data for Tier 2 livestock GHG inventories

The Livestock Activity Data Guidance (L-ADG) provides practical methods for countries to estimate the activity data used to compile livestock GHG inventories using the IPCC Tier 2 approach. The purpose is to support countries to improve the accuracy of the livestock emission estimates in national GHG inventories, and thus enable countries to measure and report progress towards their NDCs