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CHANGING LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN ASIA

In 1996 Sere and Steinfeld undertook a major study to provide a qualitative and quantitative description of world livestock production systems in order to assist in structuring global assessments of the interaction between livestock and the environment. Eleven categories of systems were defined, mainly on the basis of (a) agro-ecological zones (b) mixed (either rainfed or irrigated) or solely livestock and (c) landless (intensive) or grassland. This classification system was further simplified to three system types: pastoral, mixed farming and peri-urban/ landless (alternative names are extensive, mixed, and industrial).

As we move towards 2000 and beyond many developmental changes are predicted.

Steinfeld in 1998 published an article "Livestock production in the Asia and Pacific region - current status, issues and trends" in FAO's World Animal Review (No. 90, 1998/1). The rest of this section is an adaptation of that article, as it recently appeared in Agriculture 21, the FAO's AGA Departments Electronic Newsletter. These are Steinfeld's observations as presented in that paper.

The capital-intensive livestock sector that is developing in Asia generates little employment, threatens environmental degradation and challenges human and animal health.

The rapidly increasing demand for livestock products, together with changes in international trade, is placing pressure on Asia's livestock sector both to expand and adapt. This adaptation involves a shift in livestock functions and species, and a shift in agro-ecological and geographical zones, involving structural and technological changes.

The non-food functions of livestock are generally in decline and are being replaced by cheaper and more convenient substitutes. At the same time, the asset, petty cash, and insurance functions of livestock are being replaced by financial institutions as even remote rural areas enter the monetary economy. Except for some parts of South Asia, the use of animals for draught power is declining as more farmers mechanise, partly attracted by government subsidies. Manure continues to be important in mixed farming but its role in overall nutrient supply is diminishing because of the competitive price and ease of management of inorganic fertiliser. The same applies to animal fibers: although the demand for natural fibers is still high and in many places even increasing, there are a growing number of synthetic substitutes for wool and leather.

There is also an increasing tendency to greater selectivity as to the parts of the animal used for food. Traditionally, virtually the entire animal was utilised. Now the trend is towards lean meat for food and other products (such as offal, blood, and bone) for industrial use or recycled as feed. Thus, there is a trend from multi-purpose to single-purpose animals, with the production of animal protein the overriding objective. This is also reflected in the choice and manipulation of genotypes to favour specialisation over product diversity. Another trend is the growing importance of monogastrics as economic converters of concentrated feed.

Livestock production is growing faster in the moister parts of the region, and it is moving closer to urban settlements. It is the humid and sub-humid zones that still offer a large potential for agricultural production. This is very problematic since these zones are the richest in natural resources and bio-diversity. Human populations are increasing dramatically in these areas while other zones, such as arid and highland areas, have reached a level of population density above which significant increases can no longer be sustained. The fact that the increase in livestock numbers coincides with increases in human population, to some extent, can be explained by a continued close integration of animals in mixed systems. More importantly, however, this phenomenon reflects the increasing "urbanization" of livestock production, influenced by urban demand, good market access, and adequate infrastructure.

This type of livestock production is largely independent of agro-ecological conditions and far outpaces other land-based systems, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Annual growth in meat production, 1985-1995

Annual growth in meat production, 1985-1995

Arid and semi-arid zones

2.6%

Temperate and highland zones

5.1%

Humid and sub-humid tropics

7.2%

Industrial systems

17.2%

Source: FAO, WAICENT

This trend is in line with the observed shift to monogastric species and poultry. In some rural areas, the lack of infrastructure, economies of scale and insufficient marketing facilities limits success in competition, the result that livestock production becomes locked into subsistence level production activities. However urbanization is clearly not sustainable in the long term, mainly because of waste disposal and environmental problems as well as public health implications.

Two important structural changes apply across production systems: a general growth in scale and a trend from horizontal to vertical integration. Levels of livestock production and processing are increasing in response to technological development, market requirements, and insufficient returns to labour in traditional systems. Where alternative employment opportunities exist, such as in the rapidly industrializing countries of the region, traditional subsistence-orientated livestock farming is often abandoned, opening up market and expansion opportunities for other farmers or commercial entrepreneurs.

In particular, poultry production has often developed from a simple farm operation to a complex vertical operation of related industries and enterprises, including grain production for animal feeds, feed mills, slaughterhouses and processing plants, food chain stores and wholesale enterprises.

Further structural changes relate to the relative importance of different production systems. The growth potential for extensive grazing and roughage production is limited. In response to increased population pressure, good pastureland is being converted into cropland, leaving poorer land for grazing and mixed farming while industrial production of pigs and poultry is increasing relative to the reduction in production from grazing and mixed farming systems. Pork and broiler production will also increase relative to ruminant meat production. This is a direct result of the better conversion efficiencies of concentrate feed in pigs and poultry.

Faced with increasing resource constraints that stem from a small land base, imports of meat and other livestock products to satisfy the growing demand are increasing in Asian countries as evidenced by growing trade deficits in these products. The developing countries of Asia had a net trade deficit of 313,000 tons of ruminant meat and a net trade surplus of 409,000 tons of monogastric meat in 1997. While the region as a whole is self-sufficient in all livestock products, there are important differences between the sub-regions. Australia and New Zealand make up for the deficit of the other sub-regions, particularly for beef and milk.

It can be expected that many countries of the region will become permanent importers of livestock products. Indonesia, for example, imported 30,000 tons of red meat in 1997, and the country's Meat Importers Association estimates that imports of red meat will rise to 196,000 tons in 1999, and reach 346,000 tons in 2003. This situation is even more pronounced on the feed side. Taiwan, for example, in recent years has imports of more than 10 million tons of coarse grains and soybeans, equivalent to 95 percent of its concentrate feed utilization.

In line with the structural changes outlined above, the development, transfer, and adaptation of technologies will focus on improving the efficiency of feed utilization and increasing animal productivity. Feed requires land for production and this continues to be the limiting factor to the sector's expansion even if countries resort to feed imports. Continuing industrial development in the region will also make traditional livestock raising practices less competitive because of diminishing returns to labour, even though this process will be very gradual.

We are therefore witnessing a dualistic mode of development, with two conflicting components. First, a modern, demand-driven and capital-intensive sector, producing poultry meat, eggs, pork, and sometimes milk, increasingly uses state-of-the-art technologies. This sector utilises resources, in particular concentrate feed, efficiently-- with the notable exception of fossil fuel. It is rapidly expanding to meet urban demand but it is also susceptible to market upheavals; it generates little employment, threatens great environmental degradation (because of the density of facilities in areas with good market access), and challenges human and veterinary public health. Technology uptake in the region has been fast, driven by commercial interests.

At the same time, a traditional, resource-driven and labour-intensive sector continues to provide a multitude of services to subsistence-oriented farms. While not efficient in terms of introduced inputs, this sector uses resources which have little or no alternative values, and for this reason, its potential to expand beyond moderate growth rates is constrained by low technology uptake, insufficient market facilities and infrastructure, and small economies of scale. Often, these systems are closed cycles of nutrients, farm labour, energy, etc. Unless these cycles are broken, technology uptake will remain constrained.

Grazing systems have limited scope for expansion. To some extent, in countries such as Laos and less densely populated areas of Indonesia, the Philippines, and China, these systems can intensify by incorporating new technologies, especially in the higher potential areas. To be sustainable, this needs to be facilitated by stronger institutions, local empowerment, and regulation of access to resources. Where this does not happen, and where population pressure persists, grazing systems are threatened with resource degradation through overgrazing.

Historically, where agro-ecological conditions were favourable, grazing systems developed into mixed farming systems, which are now common throughout Asia. Mixed farming systems will intensify and grow in the coming decade with livestock production based on crop by-products and surplus. Some productivity gains will most likely be achieved by further enhancing nutrient and energy flows between the crop and livestock components. Involution of the mixed farming system may occur, such as in the Himalayan hills and Hindukush area, where the stability and sometimes very existence of mixed farming is threatened by the removal of livestock from the system, triggered by population pressure, fragmentation of arable land, poverty and lack of market access.

Under more favourable agro-ecological and market conditions, industrial systems have emerged, in parallel with, and sometimes supplanting, mixed farming systems. Because of generally poor infrastructure and institutions, these are usually established close to demand centers, resulting in excessive animal densities, nutrient surpluses and other environmental and human health problems that highlight an "urban trap": while profitable in the short run, these systems cannot be sustained in urban or peri-urban environments. Such considerations caused Singapore, for example, to abandon livestock production altogether. The answer is to have specialised commercial production operating on an area-wide basis where nutrient balances are maintained and the land's capacity to absorb animal waste is respected.

The evolutionary and significant trends described above must, if they are to be sustainable and progressive, take into account their impact on the public domain or public good. The four main issues are: the contribution of livestock to food security and food production; the protection of the environment in the face of increasingly intensive farming methods; the maintenance and generation of social equity which may be jeopardised by industrialisation and job loss; and the protection of human and animal health and welfare.

It is therefore essential that policy makers and planners responsible for livestock development define future strategies in the broad context of human development and the sustainable utilization of limited natural resources.

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