Feed balances for ruminant livestock: gridded estimates for data-constrained regions.

Demand for animal-source foods and livestock feed are forecast to increase across sub-Saharan Africa. In this context, there is a need to estimate the availability of livestock feed to support decision-making at local, sub-national and national levels. In this study, we assess feed balances for ruminant livestock in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. Feed availability was estimated using remotely sensed products and detailed feed composition data. Feed requirements were estimated for maintenance, growth, lactation, gestation and locomotion using a data-intensive model. Biomass available as animal feed was estimated to be 8.6 tonnes of DM per hectare in the Ethiopian highlands and midlands, 3.2 tonnes DM per hectare in the Ethiopian lowlands, 2.9 tonnes DM per hectare in Burkina Faso's Sudanian agro-ecological zone and 1.0 tonne DM per hectare in the Sahel. The energy requirements of lactating cows were estimated to be 62.1 Megajoules (MJs) per animal per day in the Ethiopian highlands and midlands, 62.7 MJ in the Ethiopian lowlands, 88.5 MJ in Burkina Faso's Sudanian agro-ecological zone and 53.1 MJ per animal per day in the Sahel. Feed scarcity hotspots are most prominently located in the Ethiopian highlands and the Sahelian agro-ecological zone of Burkina Faso. Demand-side policy and investment initiatives can address hotspots by influencing herd sizes, nutritional requirements and herd mobility. Supply-side policy and investment initiatives can secure existing feed resources, develop new sources of feed and incentivise trade in feed resources. Improving feed balances will be of value to decision-makers with the aims of optimising livestock productivity, minimising exposure to climatic shocks and minimising greenhouse gas emission intensity.

Impacts of climate change on the livestock food supply chain; a review of the evidence.

The potential impacts of climate change on current livestock systems worldwide are a major concern, and yet the topic is covered to a limited extent in global reports such as the ones produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In this article, we review the risk of climate-related impacts along the land-based livestock food supply chain. Although a quantification of the net impacts of climate change on the livestock sector is beyond the reach of our current understanding, there is strong evidence that there will be impacts throughout the supply chain, from farm production to processing operations, storage, transport, retailing and human consumption. The risks of climate-related impacts are highly context-specific but expected to be higher in environments that are already hot and have limited socio-economic and institutional resources for adaptation. Large uncertainties remain as to climate futures and the exposure and responses of the interlinked human and natural systems to climatic changes over time. Consequently, adaptation choices will need to account for a wide range of possible futures, including those with low probability but large consequences.

Climate change and pastoralism: impacts, consequences and adaptation.

The authors discuss the main climate change impacts on pastoralist societies, including those on rangelands, livestock and other natural resources, and their extended repercussions on food security, incomes and vulnerability. The impacts of climate change on the rangelands of the globe and on the vulnerability of the people who inhabit them will be severe and diverse, and will require multiple, simultaneous responses. In higher latitudes, the removal of temperature constraints might increase pasture production and livestock productivity, but in tropical arid lands, the impacts are highly location specific, but mostly negative. The authors outline several adaptation options, ranging from implementing new technical practices and diversifying income sources to finding institutional support and introducing new market mechanisms, all of which are pivotal for enhancing the capacity of pastoralists to adapt to climate variability and change. Due to the dynamism of all the changes affecting pastoral societies, strategies that lock pastoral societies into specified development pathways could be maladaptive. Flexible and evolving combinations of practices and policies are the key to successful pastoral adaptation.

Les auteurs examinent les principaux effets du changement climatique sur les sociétés pastorales, en particulier ceux qui affectent les prairies, le bétail et d'autres ressources naturelles ainsi que les répercussions durables sur la sécurité alimentaire, sur les revenus et sur la vulnérabilité des populations. Le changement climatique va profondément et diversement affecter les prairies de la planète et le degré de vulnérabilité des personnes qui y vivent, ce qui imposera de déployer des réponses multiples et simultanées. Si dans les latitudes plus élevées, la suppression de certaines contraintes liées aux températures permet d'augmenter la production d'herbage et d'accroître la productivité du bétail, dans les terres arides tropicales les effets du climat, très spécifiques selon les endroits, sont majoritairement négatifs. Les diverses solutions adaptatives mises en avant par les auteurs, depuis la mise en oeuvre de nouvelles techniques et la diversification des sources de revenus jusqu'à la recherche de soutiens institutionnels et la création de nouveaux mécanismes de marché, sont toutes déterminantes pour améliorer la capacité des pasteurs à s'adapter à la variabilité et au changement climatiques. En raison du caractère dynamique des changements affectant les sociétés pastorales, les stratégies consistant à confiner ces sociétés dans des tracés spécifiques de développement risquent de s'avérer contreproductives en termes d'adaptation. Un assortiment souple et évolutif de pratiques et de politiques est la clé d'une adaptation pastorale réussie.

Los autores examinan los principales efectos del cambio climático sobre las sociedades pastorales, en particular los que afectan a las tierras de pasto, el ganado y otros recursos naturales, así como sus repercusiones más indirectas sobre la seguridad alimentaria, los ingresos y la vulnerabilidad. El cambio climático traerá consigo diversos efectos de gravedad que influirán en los pastizales del planeta y la vulnerabilidad de quienes viven de ellos, efectos que exigirán múltiples respuestas simultáneas. En altas latitudes, la desaparición de las limitaciones ligadas a la temperatura podría deparar una mayor producción de los pastizales y con ello una mayor productividad del ganado, pero en las tierras áridas tropicales los efectos dependerán en gran medida de las condiciones de cada localidad y serán mayormente negativos. Los autores destacan varias posibilidades de adaptación, desde la aplicación de nuevos procedimientos técnicos y la diversificación de las fuentes de ingresos hasta la obtención de apoyo institucional, pasando por la instauración de nuevos mecanismos de mercado, todas ellas soluciones cruciales para dotar a las sociedades de pastores de mayor capacidad de adaptación a la variabilidad y la evolución del clima. Teniendo en cuenta el dinamismo de cuantos cambios afectan a las sociedades pastorales, toda estrategia que las encorsete en una u otra vía específica de desarrollo podría resultar inadaptada. La clave para una adaptación fructífera de esas sociedades estriba en combinaciones de prácticas y políticas que sean flexibles y evolucionen en el tiempo.

Smart investments in sustainable food production: revisiting mixed crop-livestock systems.

Farmers in mixed crop-livestock systems produce about half of the world's food. In small holdings around the world, livestock are reared mostly on grass, browse, and nonfood biomass from maize, millet, rice, and sorghum crops and in their turn supply manure and traction for future crops. Animals act as insurance against hard times and supply farmers with a source of regular income from sales of milk, eggs, and other products. Thus, faced with population growth and climate change, small-holder farmers should be the first target for policies to intensify production by carefully managed inputs of fertilizer, water, and feed to minimize waste and environmental impact, supported by improved access to markets, new varieties, and technologies.

Methods of economic impact assessment.

A broad framework for the assessment of the economic impact of animal diseases and control of these diseases is described. Various levels of analysis are discussed, from the herd, to the household, the sector, the nation and the region. For each of these levels, methods of economic impact assessment are outlined and discussed with respect to the objectives, data requirements and outputs of each type of assessment. In addition, the authors attempt to describe the conditions under which the various methods might be used. To conclude, a discussion of the state of the art is presented, and areas of further research are identified.