Ramsay and Andrews (1999) consider the role of livestock in food security involves not only the provision of food for the owners of the livestock but also a range of other products, which can be consumed or sold by the livestock owner to provide additional income, and/or traction and fuel. The major products of livestock are draught power, meat, milk, eggs, manure (as fertiliser or fuel), feathers, fibre, hides, and horn.
In addition to these products livestock act as an asset and provide a reserve that can be converted to cash in times of need.
By producing and selling livestock, poor rural families (in particular women) are able to enter the cash economy. Thus livestock production provides increased stability in income for the family without disrupting other food-producing activities.
The majority of the livestock in Asia is still kept by small holders; each producer usually owns a small number of animals. The livestock are fed on crop residues and are opportunistic feeders grazing and scavenging on common-and wasteland. In most cases therefore this does not involve the farmer in any expenditure. Small-scale producers do not use food that could be used for human consumption to feed their livestock.
In contrast to the small-scale producer, commercial production is generally intensive and based on the use of imported livestock feeds.
Livestock kept under the prevailing conditions of small-scale production in the region have a low level of productivity. This is in part because the diet is generally at or below maintenance levels and all of the food is partitioned to maintenance of the animal rather than to the production of livestock products. In most cases livestock are an integral part of the system of sustainable mixed farming. This system enables farmers to make maximum use of outputs such as crop residues and animal manure, which are often considered to be of low value but can represent a significant proportion of the value of keeping livestock. For example it is estimated that in Bangladesh 40% of the value of the animal is in the manure it produces and 20% is in the draught power it supplies. These outputs often never appear in the figures showing the value of livestock to a country.