Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition

140 Pages·2016·3.68 MB·English

HLPE 10

REPORT
Sustainable agricultural development
for food security and nutrition:
what roles for livestock?
A report by
The High Level Panel of Experts
on Food Security and Nutrition
July 2016
HLPE
High Level
Panel of Experts
HLPE Reports series
#1 Price volatility and food security (2011)
#2 Land tenure and international investments in agriculture (2011)
#3 Food security and climate change (2012)
#4 Social protection for food security (2012)
#5 Biofuels and food security (2013)
#6 Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security (2013)
#7 Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition (2014)
#8 Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems (2014)
#9 Water for food security and nutrition (2015)
#10 Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for
livestock? (2016)

All HLPE reports are available at www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe
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HLPE Steering Committee members (July 2016)
Patrick Caron (Chair)
Carol Kalafatic (Vice-Chair)
Amadou Allahoury
Louise Fresco
Eileen Kennedy
Muhammad Azeem Khan
Bernardo Kliksberg
Fangquan Mei
Sophia Murphy
Mohammad Saeid Noori Naeini
Michel Pimbert
Juan Ángel Rivera Dommarco
Magdalena Sepúlveda
Martin Yemefack
Rami Zurayk
HLPE Project Team members
Wilfrid Legg (Team Leader)
Khaled Abbas
Daniela Alfaro
Botir Dosov
Neil Fraser
Delia Grace
Robert Habib
Claudia Job Schmitt
Langelihle Simela
Funing Zhong

Coordinator of the HLPE
Nathanaël Pingault

This report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) has been approved by the
HLPE Steering Committee.
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Committee on World Food Security, of its
members, participants, or of the Secretariat.
This report is made publicly available and its reproduction and dissemination is encouraged. Non-commercial uses
will be authorized free of charge, upon request. Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes, including
educational purposes, may incur fees. Applications for permission to reproduce or disseminate this report should
be addressed by e-mail to [email protected] with copy to [email protected].

Referencing this report:
HLPE. 2016. Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock?
A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food
Security, Rome.
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Contents

FOREWORD ........................................................................................................................................... 9
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................ 13
Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Recommendations .......................................................................................................................... 19
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 25
1 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT FOR FOOD SECURITY
AND NUTRITION: APPROACH AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ....................................... 29
1.1 What is “sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition”? ......... 29
1.1.1 Agricultural development in relation to food security and nutrition .............................. 29
1.1.2 “Sustainable” agricultural development for FSN ......................................................... 31
1.1.3 Conceptual framework ................................................................................................ 33
1.2 The key role of the livestock sector ..................................................................................... 34
1.3 Typology of farming systems ............................................................................................... 36
1.3.1 Smallholder mixed farming systems............................................................................ 38
1.3.2 Pastoral systems ......................................................................................................... 39
1.3.3 Commercial grazing systems ...................................................................................... 39
1.3.4 Intensive livestock systems ......................................................................................... 40
1.3.5 Links with plant-based systems ................................................................................... 40
1.4 Concluding comments ........................................................................................................... 41
2 TRENDS AND DRIVERS OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ............................................. 43
2.1 External trends affecting agricultural development ........................................................... 43
2.1.1 Demographic changes, economic growth and their impacts on FSN ......................... 43
2.1.2 Changing diets: evolution of ASF consumption .......................................................... 45
2.2 Evolution of agricultural markets ......................................................................................... 47
2.2.1 Real prices follow the long-term declining trend ......................................................... 47
2.2.2 Price volatility ............................................................................................................... 48
2.2.3 Trade, SAD and FSN................................................................................................... 49
2.3 Radical transformation of farming and food systems ........................................................ 50
2.3.1 Structural transformation in agriculture and the livestock revolution ........................... 50
2.3.2 Intensification and specialization of farming systems ................................................. 51
2.3.3 Evolution of crop–livestock linkages............................................................................ 52
2.3.4 Complexification and growing concentration in food systems .................................... 55
2.4 Projections and scenarios for agricultural development, focusing on
livestock supply and demand ............................................................................................... 57
2.4.1 FAO projections ........................................................................................................... 57
2.4.2 Other projections and scenarios .................................................................................. 58
2.5 Concluding comments ........................................................................................................... 59
3 SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES FOR LIVESTOCK IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT . 61
3.1 Cross-cutting global challenges ........................................................................................... 61
3.1.1 Environmental challenges ........................................................................................... 61
3.1.2 Economic challenges .................................................................................................. 65
3.1.3 Social challenges......................................................................................................... 66
3.1.4 Health challenges ........................................................................................................ 69
3.1.5 Animal welfare ............................................................................................................. 71
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3.2 Key challenges in smallholder mixed-farming systems .................................................... 72
3.2.1 Limited access to resources, market and services ..................................................... 72
3.2.2 Low resource efficiency and resilience ....................................................................... 72
3.3 Key challenges in pastoral systems .................................................................................... 73
3.3.1 Conflicts for land and water ......................................................................................... 73
3.3.2 Economic and policy-related discrimination ................................................................ 74
3.3.3 Social and gender inequity .......................................................................................... 74
3.3.4 Human and animal health challenges ......................................................................... 75
3.4 Key challenges in commercial grazing systems ................................................................ 76
3.5 Key challenges in intensive livestock systems .................................................................. 77
3.5.1 Environmental challenges resulting from intensification ............................................. 77
3.5.2 Health impacts of intensive systems ........................................................................... 78
3.5.3 Social challenges in intensive systems ....................................................................... 78
3.5.4 Economic challenges in intensive systems ................................................................. 79
3.6 Concluding comments ........................................................................................................... 80
4 PATHWAYS TOWARDS SAD FOCUSING ON LIVESTOCK ..................................................... 83
4.1 Common approach to elaborate pathways.......................................................................... 83
4.2 Operational principles for solutions towards SAD ............................................................. 85
4.2.1 Improve resource efficiency ........................................................................................ 85
4.2.2 Strengthen resilience ................................................................................................... 90
4.2.3 Secure social equity/responsibility .............................................................................. 92
4.2.4 Controversies around solutions ................................................................................... 95
4.3 Enabling SAD solutions and responses .............................................................................. 96
4.3.1 Investing in agriculture as an overall economic priority............................................... 96
4.3.2 Role and limits of markets ........................................................................................... 97
4.3.3 Diversification and integration ..................................................................................... 99
4.3.4 Gender ....................................................................................................................... 102
4.3.5 Institutions and governance ...................................................................................... 103
4.4 Pathways in specific farming systems .............................................................................. 106
4.4.1 Smallholder mixed farming systems.......................................................................... 106
4.4.2 Pastoral systems ....................................................................................................... 109
4.4.3 Commercial grazing systems .................................................................................... 111
4.4.4 Intensive livestock systems ....................................................................................... 114
4.5 Concluding comments ......................................................................................................... 117
CONCLUSION AND WAYS FORWARD ........................................................................................... 119
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... 121
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 122
APPENDIX .......................................................................................................................................... 138
The HLPE project cycle ................................................................................................................. 138

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List of Figures
Figure 1 Conceptual framework: relationship between sustainable agricultural development and
food security and nutrition ................................................................................................... 33
Figure 2 Share of rural households keeping livestock ...................................................................... 35
Figure 3 Relationship between per capita meat consumption and income in 2011 .......................... 46
Figure 4 Medium-term evolution of commodity prices in real terms ................................................. 47
Figure 5 Use of plant food calories – world (1961–2007) ................................................................. 53
Figure 6 Land-use and major flows of biomass and its derivatives in the global food and
agriculture system (circa 2000) ........................................................................................... 55
Figure 7 Mortality rate of calves (%) .................................................................................................. 62
Figure 8 Pathways and responses for SAD towards FSN ................................................................ 84
Figure 9 HLPE project cycle ............................................................................................................ 139
List of Tables
Table 1 Share of livestock systems in animals population and in main livestock products ............. 37
Table 2 Priority challenges to attain SAD for FSN in different livestock systems ............................ 81
List of Definitions
Definition 1 Sustainable agricultural development ........................................................................... 29
List of Boxes
Box 1 Rural worlds – importance of agriculture in the economy ................................................... 31
Box 2 Economic growth, demographic change and adjustment in China’s agriculture sector ..... 45
Box 3 Trade flows of livestock feeds in China ............................................................................... 54
Box 4 Biofuels ................................................................................................................................ 58
Box 5 Global climate change, food supply and livestock production systems: A bioeconomic
analysis ............................................................................................................................... 64
Box 6 Occupational health in the meat and poultry industry in the United States of America ...... 67
Box 7 Impacts of Conflicts on Pastoralists .................................................................................... 69
Box 8 OIE principles for animal welfare ........................................................................................ 71
Box 9 Indigenous peoples and livestock ....................................................................................... 75
Box 10 The challenge of degradation, biodiversity loss and soil erosion on grassland systems
in the Southern Cone of America ........................................................................................ 76
Box 11 Integrated sustainable silvo-pastoral systems in Colombia ................................................ 86
Box 12 Improved goat production in Kenya .................................................................................... 87
Box 13 Embracing sustainable intensification ................................................................................. 87
Box 14 The contribution of insects .................................................................................................. 89
Box 15 The development of agro-ecology in selected countries .................................................... 91
Box 16 Working conditions in the meat processing industry ........................................................... 94
Box 17 Animal welfare: contributing to resilience and resource efficiency ..................................... 94
Box 18 The evolution of diets in the Mediterranean area during the last 50 years ....................... 101
Box 19 The Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock Development ............................................ 105
Box 20 Sustainable livestock – private sector initiatives ............................................................... 105
Box 21 Smallholder pig production in Viet Nam ............................................................................ 106
Box 22 Empowering rural women artisans through improved production, processing and
export of wool and mohair in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan ................................................... 107
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Box 23 Improving pastoral systems in the Sahel and the Sahara ................................................ 110
Box 24 Sustainability in the New Zealand sheep meat sector ...................................................... 113
Box 25 Livestock and deforestation: pathways for sustainable beef in the Brazilian Amazonia .. 114
Box 26 Changing structure of the pig sector in China ................................................................... 115
Box 27 Intensive livestock systems in Europe .............................................................................. 116

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FOREWORD
The High Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) is the science-policy
interface of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which is, at the global level, the
foremost inclusive and evidence-based international and intergovernmental platform for food
security and nutrition.
HLPE reports serve as a common, comprehensive, evidence-based starting point for
intergovernmental and international multistakeholder policy debates in CFS. The HLPE draws
its studies based on existing research and knowledge. The HLPE thrives to clarify
contradictory information and knowledge, elicit the backgrounds and rationales of
controversies, and identify emerging issues. The HLPE organizes a scientific dialogue, built
upon the diversity of disciplines, backgrounds, knowledge systems, diversity of its Steering
Committee and Project Teams, and upon open electronic consultations.
HLPE reports are widely used as reference documents within and beyond CFS and the UN
system, by the scientific community as well as by political decision-makers and stakeholders,
at international, regional and national levels.

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In October 2014, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), requested the High Level
Panel of Experts (HLPE) to prepare a report on sustainable agricultural development (SAD)
for food security and nutrition (FSN), including the role of livestock. This topic is highly relevant
to the 2030 Agenda agreed by the international community in 2015. The objective of
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 is specifically to “end hunger, achieve food security
and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. Yet all of the SDGs have strong
implications for the achievement of SAD for FSN. In return, we should expect SAD to
contribute to the fulfilment of all these goals. SAD is also relevant to the role of agriculture and
agricultural development in the implementation of the 2014 Rome Declaration on Nutrition,
and is central to the fulfilment of the UN commitment to the Right to Food.
SAD has been touched on in other HLPE reports, either with a sectoral focus or from a cross-
cutting perspective. The HLPE Note on Critical and emerging issues for food security and
nutrition (2014) stressed the importance of a food systems’ approach for the realization of
FSN, and provided analysis of livestock issues. The present report draws on these previous
HLPE publications as contributions to its narrative, and the reports are cross-referenced as
appropriate. This process aims to ensure consistency, as well as adding value by providing
SAD with a central role in the overall HLPE analysis.
In this report, agriculture is interpreted in the narrower sense of crops and livestock. Fisheries
and aquaculture were treated in a dedicated HLPE report in 2014, while forestry will be
covered in a report to be released in 2017. Livestock is used to designate domesticated
terrestrial animals raised for food production. Bees, insects and wild foods are not covered.

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Agricultural development plays a major role in improving FSN: by increasing the quantity and
diversity of food; as a driver of economic transformation; and, because agriculture is the main
source of income for a majority of the people who live in the most extreme poverty. Earning
sufficient income from agriculture is key for the 1.3 billion people who work in the sector, and
directly determines their food security. Extensive experience across many countries over
many years shows that both agricultural development and economy-wide growth are needed
to improve FSN, and that the former can reinforce the latter.
Given the breadth of the topic, and as reflected in its title, this report focuses on the livestock
sector because it is a powerful engine for the development of the agriculture and food sector,
a driver of major economic, social and environmental changes in food systems worldwide, and
a uniquely powerful entry point for understanding the issues around sustainable agricultural
development as a whole.
Livestock production is central to food systems’ development and is a particularly dynamic
and complex agricultural subsector, with implications for animal-feed demand, for market
concentration in agricultural supply chains, for the intensification of production at the farm
level, for farm income, land use, and for nutrition and health. Livestock has often set the speed
of change in agriculture in recent decades.
Livestock is strongly linked to the feed crop sector, generates co-products including manure
and draught power, and in many countries acts as a store of wealth and a safety net. It is
integral to the traditional practices, values and landscapes of many communities across the
world. Livestock has significant effects on the environment, both positive and negative,
particularly when indirect land-use changes and feed crop production effects are taken into
account.
As highlighted by numerous contributions to the electronic consultation on the V0 Draft of the
report, the focus on livestock, while legitimate as a way to illustrate the complexity of SAD,
should not hide the critical importance of the crop sectors. The common approach proposed
in this report, to define pathways to SAD in different livestock systems, and the attention paid
to crop–livestock interactions can also be used for the wider agriculture sector.
Changes in consumption and dietary patterns will be critical in shaping SAD for FSN. Those
subjects will be looked at in a specific HLPE report on Nutrition and food systems to be
published in 2017. Taken together, these two reports will provide a significant contribution to
informing debates on sustainable food systems along the food chain from production to
consumption.
The report offers policy-makers and other stakeholders a framework to design and implement
feasible options of sustainability pathways for agricultural development. It will hopefully
contribute to sustainable food systems and to FSN for all, and more broadly to the 2030
Agenda, now and in the future.
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