المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

In March 2022, the first session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) Sub-Committee on Livestock “requested FAO to organize further consultations on the need, scope, nature, and process for the development of a dedicated voluntary guidance tool for the sustainable enhancement of small-scale livestock productivity.”

In response to this request, FAO is undertaking a wide ranging, inclusive and multistakeholder consultation process, under the overall direction and guidance of the Bureau of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock. The main findings of the consultations will be submitted to the Second Session of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock, scheduled to take place in May 2024.

In April-May 2023, FAO conducted the Global Survey “Need for a Dedicated Voluntary Guidance Tool for the Sustainable Enhancement of Small-Scale Livestock Productivity”. As outlined in the background document available here, the Global Survey confirmed that a global voluntary guidance tool would be useful, and this e-consultation is based on that assumption.

Objectives of this e-consultation

Based on the findings of the Global Survey, a FAO task force drafted the potential objectives, scope and nature, and process for the development of a dedicated voluntary guidance tool for the sustainable enhancement of small-scale livestock productivity.

With this e-consultation, FAO is seeking the feedback from key partners and stakeholders, including national governments and institutions, small-scale producer organizations, civil society organizations, global and regional development organizations, research organizations and academia, and other global and regional organizations on the following guiding issues:

PROPOSED OBJECTIVES, NATURE AND SCOPE, AND PROCESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEDICATED VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE TOOL FOR THE SUSTAINABLE ENHANCEMENT OF SMALL-SCALE LIVESTOCK PRODUCTIVITY

Objectives

The voluntary guidance tool could help to improve sustainable small-scale livestock productivity by:

• Raising the profile and understanding of the contributions of small-scale livestock producers;
• Suggesting how common constraints to improved small-scale livestock productivity might be overcome;
• Identifying actions and practices that small-scale livestock producers and allied value chain actors could implement or advocate for;
• Identifying themes that would benefit from multi stakeholder engagement at national, regional and/or global levels.

Nature and scope

The tool could be global in scope but focus on low- and middle-income countries, where small-scale livestock production is most important and productivity is reported to be lower.

The potential voluntary guidance tool would provide governments and other stakeholders of the small-scale livestock subsector (including producers and their organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector) with internationally recognized, locally and nationally adaptable guidance and principles that they can voluntarily use as a basis for updating or strengthening of their national strategies, policies, legislation, programmes, investment plans and activities for the sustainable enhancement of small-scale livestock productivity. The guidance and principles would be presented in the same format employed in other voluntary guidance tools developed by FAO.

Given the great diversity of small-scale production systems and that there is no single, agreed definition of the subsector, the voluntary guidance tool would not prescribe a definition of small-scale livestock producers and would focus on farmers and pastoralists, who, at the national level have limited resource endowments, relative to other livestock keepers in the sector. It would focus on production systems that rely mainly on the family labour of both women and men and are integral to household livelihoods and consider both pastoralists and small-scale intensive and extensive farmers.

Process

What would the process for preparing the voluntary guidance tool look like?

The voluntary guidance tool would be developed through an inclusive and participatory process under the overall direction and guidance of the Bureau of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock. FAO would play a facilitator role and organize, depending on the funds available: in-person or virtual global and/or regional multi-stakeholder consultation workshops and e-consultations. The draft of the voluntary guidance tool would be submitted to the 3rd Session of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock for review and feedback.

Who would participate in the preparation of the voluntary guidance tool?

The consultations would involve representatives of governments, small-scale livestock producers and their organizations, researchers, civil society, development partners, and other relevant private- and public-sector actors. Consultations would be carried out in line with relevant FAO guidelines and strategies, such as the Guidelines for Ensuring Balanced Representation of Civil Society in FAO Meetings and Processes.

The outputs of this online consultation will contribute to the inclusive multistakeholder consultation process, requested by the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock.

The comments are welcome in English, French and Spanish. To take part in this online consultation, please register to the FSN Forum, if you are not yet a member, or “sign in” to your account. You can insert your comment in the below box “Post your contribution” on this webpage. 

The consultation is open until 8 January 2024.

We thank in advance all the contributors for reading, commenting and providing inputs and look forward to your active participation in this consultation process!

Co-Facilitators:

Badi Besbes, Senior Animal Production Officer, Animal Production and Health Division (NSA), FAO

Giacomo de’ Besi, Animal Production Officer, NSA, FAO

Robyn Alders, Senior Consultant, FAO

REFERENCES:

1. Report based on the outcomes of the Global Survey “Need for a Dedicated Voluntary Guidance Tool for the Sustainable Enhancement of Small-Scale Livestock Productivity” (available in English, French and Spanish).
2. Supplementary material: Respondents and detailed results of the global survey (available in English).