Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics
Smallholder livestock keepers represent almost 20% of the world population and steward most of the agricultural land in the tropics. Observed and expected increases in future demand for livestock products in developing countries provide unique opportunities for improving livelihoods and linked to th...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2010
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/769 |
| _version_ | 1855522015547490304 |
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| author | McDermott, John J. Staal, Steven J. Freeman, H.A. Herrero, Mario Steeg, Jeannette van de |
| author_browse | Freeman, H.A. Herrero, Mario McDermott, John J. Staal, Steven J. Steeg, Jeannette van de |
| author_facet | McDermott, John J. Staal, Steven J. Freeman, H.A. Herrero, Mario Steeg, Jeannette van de |
| author_sort | McDermott, John J. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Smallholder livestock keepers represent almost 20% of the world population and steward most of the agricultural land in the tropics. Observed and expected increases in future demand for livestock products in developing countries provide unique opportunities for improving livelihoods and linked to that, improving stewardship of the environment. This cannot be a passive process and needs to be supported by enabling policies and pro-poor investments in institutional capacities and technologies. Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems must take into account both social and environmental welfare and be targeted to sectors and areas of most probable positive social welfare returns and where natural resource conditions allow for intensification. Smallholders are competitive in ruminant systems, particularly dairy, because of the availability of family labour and the ability of ruminants to exploit lower quality available roughage. Smallholders compete well in local markets which are important in agriculturally-based or transforming developing countries. However, as production and marketing systems evolve, support to smallholders to provide efficient input services, links to output markets and risk mitigation measures will be important if they are to provide higher value products. Innovative public support and links to the private sector will be required for the poor to adapt and benefit as systems evolve. Likewise targeting is critical to choosing which systems with livestock can be intensified. Some intensive river basin systems have little scope for intensification. More extensive rain-fed systems, particularly in Africa, could intensify with enabling policies and appropriate investments. In more fragile environments, de-intensification is required to avoid irreversible damage to ecosystems. Attention to both social and environmental sustainability are critical to understanding trade-offs and incentives and to bridging important gaps in the perspectives on livestock production between rich and poor countries and peoples. Two specific examples in which important elements of sustainable intensification can be illustrated, smallholder dairy systems in East Africa and South Asia and small ruminant meat systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, are discussed. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace769 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publishDateRange | 2010 |
| publishDateSort | 2010 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace7692024-05-01T08:16:37Z Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics McDermott, John J. Staal, Steven J. Freeman, H.A. Herrero, Mario Steeg, Jeannette van de Smallholder livestock keepers represent almost 20% of the world population and steward most of the agricultural land in the tropics. Observed and expected increases in future demand for livestock products in developing countries provide unique opportunities for improving livelihoods and linked to that, improving stewardship of the environment. This cannot be a passive process and needs to be supported by enabling policies and pro-poor investments in institutional capacities and technologies. Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems must take into account both social and environmental welfare and be targeted to sectors and areas of most probable positive social welfare returns and where natural resource conditions allow for intensification. Smallholders are competitive in ruminant systems, particularly dairy, because of the availability of family labour and the ability of ruminants to exploit lower quality available roughage. Smallholders compete well in local markets which are important in agriculturally-based or transforming developing countries. However, as production and marketing systems evolve, support to smallholders to provide efficient input services, links to output markets and risk mitigation measures will be important if they are to provide higher value products. Innovative public support and links to the private sector will be required for the poor to adapt and benefit as systems evolve. Likewise targeting is critical to choosing which systems with livestock can be intensified. Some intensive river basin systems have little scope for intensification. More extensive rain-fed systems, particularly in Africa, could intensify with enabling policies and appropriate investments. In more fragile environments, de-intensification is required to avoid irreversible damage to ecosystems. Attention to both social and environmental sustainability are critical to understanding trade-offs and incentives and to bridging important gaps in the perspectives on livestock production between rich and poor countries and peoples. Two specific examples in which important elements of sustainable intensification can be illustrated, smallholder dairy systems in East Africa and South Asia and small ruminant meat systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, are discussed. 2010-05 2010-03-12T07:23:04Z 2010-03-12T07:23:04Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/769 en Limited Access Elsevier McDermott, J.J.; Staal, S.J.; Freeman, A.H.; Herrero, M.; Steeg, J.A. van de. 2010. Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics. Livestock Science. 130(1-3): 95-109 |
| spellingShingle | McDermott, John J. Staal, Steven J. Freeman, H.A. Herrero, Mario Steeg, Jeannette van de Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| title | Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| title_full | Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| title_fullStr | Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| title_short | Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| title_sort | sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/769 |
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