livestock

In this article the authors map the Nairobi beef, sheep and goat systems structure and flows to identify deficiencies and vulnerabilities to shocks. Nairobi is a large rapidly-growing city whose demand for beef, mutton and goat products is expected to double by 2030. A mapping analysis was done in three different dimensions: people and product profiling (interactions of people and products), geographical (routes of animals and products) and temporal mapping (seasonal fluctuations). »

This report by ILRI provides examples of putting science into practice, facilitating evidence-based decision-making and developing the capacities of livestock. The report has five chapters of interlinked areas: livestock genetics and breeding; livestock feeds and forages; livestock and human health; policies, value chains and livelihoods; and sustainable livestock systems. »

This brief by the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish introduces different streams of work to develop and test tools to assess the environmental impacts of livestock and fish production in developing countries. As demand for livestock products continues to grow, driven by rising population and dietary shifts, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to reduce the environmental footprints and GHG emission intensity from livestock. The first step in this process is to develop tools to estimate potential impacts of such strategies. »

This policy briefing by IDS focuses on the increasing of youth participation in livestock production in Kenya. Agriculture is a primary source of employment in Kenya. Most employment takes the form of smallholder crop and livestock farming, either as a main or supplementary livelihood activity. In recent years, youth have been found to prefer employment in non-farm livelihood activities to farming. »

This article in the Agricultural Systems journal test the impact of climate change on mixed crop-livestock systems. It presents a study that test the impacts of different interventions in two contrasting mixed farms in Northern Burkina Faso against the background of plausible current and future climate scenarios. Smallholder crop–livestock farming systems have an important role to play for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, but they have to cope with the effects of climate variability and change. »

This paper in the Global Food Security journal analyses global livestock feed rations and feed conversion ratios, with specific insight on the diversity in production systems and feed materials. Livestock contribute to food security by supplying essential macro- and micro-nutrients, providing manure and draught power, and generating income. But they also consume food edible by humans and graze on pastures that could be used for crop production. »