The aim of this study is to provide a qualitative and quantitative description of the world livestock production systems in order to contribute to structuring global assessments of the interactions between livestock and the environment.
It is the result of a first attempt to produce such a classification and characterization at a global level. Eleven systems were defined, their salient features described and quantitative estimates derived of the resources involved in each, the main livestock outputs and a number of productivity and intensity indices.
While such a global study is largely based on available statistical sources, it is by definition, imprecise in detail. Its merit has to be seen in the comprehensiveness and thus allows for generalizations based on quantitative analyses. By its very nature such a framework is suitable for the analysis of transboundary issues, such as global warming, desertification, feed grain trade and production.
Some features of the global livestock economy can be distilled from the data anaylsis:
Land-based systems still provide a large share of the total livestock output: 88.5 percent of beef and veal, 61 percent of pork, 26 percent of poultry, representing 60 Percent of the total of all three meats. Globally, pork is the most important meat source (72 million tonnes), followed by beef and veal (53 million tonnes), followed by poultry (43 million tonnes).
Among land-based systems, specialized grazing systems only contribute 9.3 percent of the total meat output and 7.9 percent of the cow milk output. The vast majority of production is provided by mixed systems. The importance of mixed systems as suppliers of livestock products is expected to continue to grow in the future, along with landless monogastric systems.
One salient issue is how can systems capitalize on the benefits of integration, particularly with respect to nutrient cycling and other environmental issues, while at the same time allowing for specialization of individual operators to achieve an increase in labour productivity, the essence of economic development. Agropastoralism in semi-arid Africa is a good example of such institutional arrangements. Use of share croppers and contractors in ranching systems in South America is another. The local manure banks in the Netherlands, as well as the trade with fresh forages in peri-urban animal production in many developing areas are other approaches.
The fact that mixed systems contribute so largely to total output of animal products is frequently ignored by policy makers and researchers, who are used to think in terms of crop or livestock production and hence, the value of a systems perspective when dealing with livestock related issues, particularly in a developing country context.
The relative importance of different production systems and animal species varies markedly across geographic regions of the world. Grazing systems are more important in Central and South America, with its low population density and relatively higher degree of urbanization. Here, cattle are the most important livestock species. Africa has vast livestock resources in semi-arid and arid regions, and small ruminants play an important role. Asia has more than 90 percent of the world stock of buffaloes, and in parts of Asia, i.e. the Far East, pigs have become a very important source of red meat. In Asia, mixed systems strongly predominate.
The MRT system is by far the largest. Globally, it represents 41 percent of the arable land, 21 percent of the cattle population, 18 percent of sheep and goats and 37 percent of dairy cattle. In terms of output, it is even more important.
Comparing livestock resource availability indices among systems, and within systems and across the country, a very wide range of resource endowment per inhabitant can be observed. Developed countries tend to be substantially better endowed per inhabitant with land and livestock than developing countries. Similarly, wide differences in intensity of production exist.
Intensity levels of the world livestock production systems seem to be converging, though starting from very different levels. On the one hand, the very intensive systems of developed countries are facing a series of environmental problems. Often, intensity levels are linked to price support policies. Both the decline in price support and the increase in environmental regulations are inducing lower levels of intensity in this part of the world. At the same time, the growing population in developing countries and the rising per caput incomes are increasing livestock product demand. Given the fact that horizontal expansion is no longer a viable option for most countries, incentives for intensification are growing.
There are some overriding observations in this study. They include:
the important role ruminants play in the national resource management in terms of utilizing marginal resources and waste;
the trend to internationalise markets which drives different livestock production systems in different parts of the world into increasing competition;
the current transition from an empty world to a full world which also applies to the livestock sector;
the growing possibility to trade environmental impacts via products; i.e. the importation of sustainability in the developed countries for which global concertation and bilateral agreement are needed to address this issue, both from a development and trade perspective.
Solutions cannot be found only in changing production patterns in individual systems, but consumption patterns should also be considered. In the developed countries, excessive consumption per caput contrast with population growth in LDCs in addition to rapidly growing consumption per caput in Asia. There are driving factors for the expansion of livestock production. Animal product consumption has stabilized in many developed countries and is declining in some. This is not primarily linked to environmental concerns but rather to health reasons related to excessive consumption.
One key variable to determine the nature of livestock environment interactions is the evolution of cereal production and trade worldwide. This puts the issue of livestock production and its use of natural resources into the core of today's development discussion: trade issues, changes in lifestyle patterns both in the south and north, and Malthusian versus technocratic view of world resources.
