Livestock keepers

FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PAPER 167

Livestock Keepers

Guardians of biodiversity

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 2009

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Contents

Acknowledgements  [224Kb]
Summary

Introduction  [182Kb]

Background  [217Kb]

    Importance of the livestock sector
    Who are small-scale livestock keepers?

Economic and ecological roles of smallholder farmers and pastoralists  [435Kb]

    Provision of products
    Sustainable use of marginal areas
    Herders and the environment: agro-ecosystem services

Creators and guardians of breeds  [650Kb]

    Social breeding mechanisms
    Indigenous knowledge about animal breeding and breeds
    Classification of breeds and knowledge about undocumented breeds
    Traditional breeding institutions
    Breeding goals and objectives
    Breeding management
    Experimenting with breeds

Conservation  [221Kb]

    Breed conservation and maintaining option values
    Furthering adaptive traits
    Adapting breeds to local conditions

Why livestock keepers give up their breeds  [367Kb]

    One-sided information and subsidies favouring the adoption of improved breeds
      and standardized production and breeding systems
    Changing market demands
    Control of land, water and livestock
    Policies and animal health regulations
    Changing lifestyles

Motivation and incentives to keep a breed  [455Kb]

    Survival of traditional production systems and access to natural resources
    Sense of custodianship
    Access to appropriate services
    Institutional support
    Economic incentives
    Supportive policies

Improving small-scale livestock keepers’ participation in the implementation
of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources  [334Kb]

    Strategic priority area 1: Characterization, inventory and monitoring of trends
     and associated risks
    Strategic priority area 2: Sustainable use and development
    Strategic priority area 3: Conservation
    Strategic priority area 4: Policies, institutions and capacity-building

References  [673Kb]