Senior Officer (Feed Resources)
FAO Animal Production and Health Division/
Editor, World Animal Review
La production animale et la demande de produits d'origine animale devraient progresser rapidement pendant les 20 prochaines années. Les animaux d'élevage supplémentaires se trouveront aussi en concurrence avec l'homme pour la consommation de céréales. On prévoit également qu'il y aura une plus grande concentration et des problèmes connexes d'élevage dans les zones urbaines et périurbaines. Ces problèmes sont notamment la pollution et, phénomène tout aussi important, les risques accrus de transmission de zoonoses à l'homme. La forte progression de la demande de protéines d'origine animale depuis les dernières décennies a été en grande partie satisfaite grâce à la croissance mondiale de la production industrielle de porcs et de volailles. L'incidence de l'agriculture durable, des systèmes intégrés et des méthodes d'agriculture biologique a été très faible. Cette étude donne des exemples de la façon dont les techniques de transformation artisanale et une formation pratique peuvent aider le petit producteur à trouver des débouchés, et dont la «masse de connaissances» disponible dans le monde pourrait aider les petits agriculteurs à relever le défi consistant à nourrir l'humanité.
Se espera que la producción pecuaria y la demanda de productos animales aumenten con rapidez en los próximos 20 años. El ganado adicional competirá también con la población humana por los cereales. Se prevé que también habrá una concentración mayor de ganado en las ciudades y las zonas periurbanas, con los consiguientes problemas. Entre éstos está la contaminación del medio ambiente, y también ocupa un lugar destacado el creciente riesgo de enfermedades zoonóticas que afectan a las personas. El fuerte aumento de la demanda de proteínas animales durante los últimos decenios se ha cubierto en gran parte gracias al crecimiento de la producción industrial porcina y avícola en todo el mundo. Los efectos de la agricultura sostenible, los sistemas integrados y los métodos de la agricultura biológica han sido muy pequeños. Se citan ejemplos de la manera en que las tecnologías de elaboración en pequeña escala y la capacitación práctica pueden ayudar a los pequeños productores a conseguir acceso al mercado y en que las bases de conocimientos mundiales puede ayudar a los pequeños agricultores a afrontar el reto de alimentar al mundo.
As we enter the next millennium, we need to have "2020 vision". What will be the numbers, production and demand for livestock in 20 years time? The world may be a very different place, especially in view of the growing pressure on natural resources. How accurately did we predict the state of the world in the 1960s, for instance, from our knowledge of the 1930s?
FAO, together with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), is now trying to predict the future production and consumption of animal products by extrapolating from the situation in the 1990s. Delgado, Courbois and Rosegrant1 suggest that total meat consumption may rise from 180 million tonnes (1993) to 300 million tonnes (2020), and milk from 400 million to 650 million tonnes over the same period. Egg production should also increase by 50 percent. These estimates indicate a massive increase in the demand for animal protein and the extra livestock required to fulfil it will also compete with the growing human population for grain supplies.
Added to this general growth are certain "hot spots", areas of high population density and emerging economies of increasing wealth. Consequently, the consumption of livestock products, together with the associated demand for feedgrains and the environmental effects of this pressure, will grow even faster in some countries.
There should also be a greater concentration of livestock in cities and peri-urban areas, where environmental pollution and higher risks of zoonotic diseases affecting humans will result. The first article in this issue, by Mauro Ghirotti, illustrates the scale and complexity of this issue.
The large increase in animal protein demand over the last few decades has been largely met by the worldwide growth in industrial production of pigs and poultry. This is expected to continue as real incomes grow in the emerging economies. Industrial production relies heavily on grain, soybean and fishmeal and has a high cost in terms of fossil fuel consumption. The concentration of animals disassociated from land and crops, furthermore, means that the problem of waste disposal takes on an alarming dimension. Yet the industrial trend appears set to continue, as there are few real alternatives.
Cuba, for special reasons, has faced post-industrial farming and food production, including milk and meat, without oil supplies. Its recent history, chronicled in an article by Rena Pérez, reveals some hopeful trends towards more sustainable methods, although there is a long way to go.
We have talked of sustainable agriculture, integrated systems and organic farming methods for many years, and yet their real impact is very small. Small is beautiful, but not enough! Can we really supply 300 million tonnes of meat from non-industrial systems? One problem is infrastructure. How can small producers have access to the larger market? The answer probably lies in "telemarketing" through the development of communications technology. In southern Brazil, the large meat company Sadía now buys supplies from relatively small farmers. The area is also supported by good marketing and purchasing cooperatives that have computer networks (linking the shops), so it is possible to see how the marketing of small numbers of livestock could be organized. The mobile phone, currently being used as a village communication tool in Bangladesh and Venezuela, could also have an impact on marketing from small producers.
There is also a need, and a demand, for low-cost and simple processing technologies for livestock products. All too often, the entrepreneurs or traders take the lion's share of the profit because they have the means, the knowledge and access to the consumer market. Emphasis needs to be given to the development of village-level processing, including equipment, training, distribution and marketing.
FAO is developing suitable equipment that could make small-scale processing competitive. Anthony Bennett reports on a successful project in Uganda for the production of value-added meat products by village women and young people.
With the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), FAO's Animal Production and Health Division is developing a lactoperoxidase system (LPS) of milk preservation that could give small farmers in isolated areas the chance to market their milk far from home. LPS involves adding a small packet of thiocyanate to a can of milk, followed by the addition of a small packet of hydrogen peroxide. Both chemicals occur naturally in milk, but in quantities that inhibit bacteria for only one to two hours. By boosting this natural process, the milk can be made to last a further three hours at ambient temperatures, long enough to be transported to a refrigerated collection point. The widespread adoption of this low-cost system would increase the income of farmers who rely on livestock by enabling them to sell their milk beyond the village and to supply the growing urban centres. Processing technologies for livestock products must be flexible and adaptable to a range of product types and uses. For example, a project in Kenya resulted in the development of a low-cost milk filling-pasteurizing-chilling system, which is readily applicable to small groups of producers worldwide.
Consumer demand must be satisfied in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. Livestock products need to be produced from disease-free animals, and the use of additives that may "improve" production but that are unacceptable to consumers must be questioned. At the policy, producer and processor levels, the provision of safe and wholesome food should be recognized as the cornerstone of sustainable livestock and product development. The best way to stimulate livestock production at the farm level is to give producers a good return for their products. Lip service is paid to encouraging small producers and the use of alternative technologies, although this does seem to fly in the face of general trends of multinational company growth and globalization. What we are talking about is "small-scale production on a large scale" - an interesting and exciting concept directed at the small farmers - especially village women - who will be producing the extra food needed by the world in the next millennium. The focus, therefore, should be on small animals, rather than large ruminants.
At a meeting on Poultry as a Tool in Poverty Eradication and Promotion of Gender Equality, held at Tune Landbøskole, Denmark, in March 1999, the development of family poultry production was discussed by a group of 60 professionals from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America. Interesting developments in management, nutrition and disease control were reported, but a need for training and information dissemination was also identified. There has been some progress made, for example in Bangladesh, where the government and non-governmental organizations are assisting women with both microcredit and training. There is also a need to "train the trainers". In Viet Nam and Cambodia, centres have been set up to ensure more effective training of technicians in farm and village work and information technologies.
A global "knowledge base" that can provide the world's small producers with solutions to production, health and processing problems is being developed through FAO's World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT). The challenge is to ensure that this knowledge filters through the system to the village level. Again, some headway has been made, in this case by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and in Canada's Acacia Initiative for Africa and Pan Networking in Asia.
At the regional level, a strategic programme for developing training and information centres has been initiated. For 15 countries in Central and South America, FAO and the Federación Panamericana de Lecheria (FEPALE) have joined forces to promote and encourage the sharing of expertise and training in the dairy sector.
At the end of the day, policy decisions must be made with a view to removing the obstacles faced by small producers and, in some cases, restraining big companies.
As production and consumption of meat and other animal products increase, the concomitant problems discussed in this issue will become even more acute, making it imperative to find suitable, long-term solutions.
1 Delgado, C.L., Courbois, C.B. & Rosegrant, M.W. 1998. Global food demand and the contribution of livestock as we enter the new millennium. (available at www.cgiar.org/ifpri/divs/mssd/dp/papers/dp21f.pdf)