Livestock needs investment, better policies: FAO

With the increasing demand for livestock products, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said investment, favourable policy changes and institutional reforms can help it contribute more to food security and poverty alleviation.

"The livestock sector makes important contributions to food security and poverty reduction. It, however, could do more given judicious policy and institutional reforms and significant public and private investment," FAO said in a report released today.

"The sector expanded rapidly in the recent decade and demand for livestock products is expected to continue growing through the middle of the century, driven by the population growth, rising affluence and urbanisation," it pointed out.

Globally, livestock contributes 15 per cent of total food energy and 25 per cent of dietary protein. Around 60 per cent of the rural household keep livestock.

Policy-makers, it said, should balance the needs of producers against consumers, those of stakeholders against commercial operators and routine animal-health and food safety fears against potential risks.

"It requires significant and sustained innovation in national, regional and global food and farming systems, and a mix of policy and institutional change,capacity-building, technological innovation and investment that's gender-specific and responsive," the FAO report said.

Livestock grazing occupies 26 per cent of the ice-free land surface and production of livestock feed uses 33 per cent of farm land, the report said.