BY DR TONY MICHEL MONDA
The African Development Bank in its paper states: “Livestock are critical to rural incomes, nutrition and food security, and resilience in smallholder mixed crop/livestock and pastoral systems in much of Africa”. Adding that consumption of animal-sourced food was projected to significantly increase by the middle of the century, necessitating intensified production to meet the growing demand.
the Bank, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, anticipated the consumption of animal-sourced food to increase significantly by the middle of the century in tandem with increased prosperity, necessitating intensified production to meet the growing demand.
It is a well-known fact that less than a third of the global population is well fed and nourished; another third of the world’s people are either hungry (about 850 million people) or stunted, or subsisting on insufficient nutrients to lead a healthy and productive life. Another third of the world’s people are overweight or obese and face the health challenges that attend overconsumption of food.
The average African consumed about 11kilos of meat per year (2005-2007), this was expected to increase progressively to about 26 kilos of meat and 64 litres of milk respectively by 2050. Global meat production was projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while milk output was set to increase from 580 to1043 million tonnes.
“The central importance of livestock in the developing world is to continue, because per capita consumption of animal-source foods in Africa is still low. Consumption of meat in Africa, for example, is just 13kg and 35 litres of milk per person per year, while in North America it is closer to 100kg or more”. Observed Jimmy Smith, Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), at the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems conference.
In Zimbabwe the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), designed a project for the adoption of adaptation measures which increase nutrition cobenefits for smallholder farmers and their families titled ‘Climate change and nutrition in value chain development’. Supported by Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), it allows IFAD to develop an integrated approach for designing climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive value chains.
Recently agro-researchers, epidemiologists and veterinary practitioners from Southern and East Africa, together with participants from USA, EU and Japan, met at Tanga Eco Farm – a bespoke
boutique research farm in Zimbabwe to discuss possible mitigation measures for rural farmers in light of climate change and the Implications of food shortages in southern Africa in the face of an impending drought. The three-day workshop at Tanga Eco Farm Zimbabwe recommend various measures for the identification of adaptation and mitigation actions, while also reducing nutrition risks of food value chain investments.
Agro-technical measures and veterinary solutions included re-greening denuded rangelands, setting up low-cost shelters, enriching cattle nutrition with feed additives, relocating the animals to more climatically suitable regions, crossbreeding cattle to enhance heat stress tolerance, and switching from cattle to more heat-resilient species such as goat.
A food and nutrition researcher, hospitality training expert Michelina Andreucci, attending the workshop asserted “The nation needs to capacitate and strengthen the resilience of marginalized, underprivileged rural livestock farmers as an urgent undertaking. Stewardship of the environment, land and water is vital for the production of livestock and food for the nation.
However, some of the measures were consider down with financial, technical and infra-structural challenges that seemed unfeasible for resource-poor countries and rural farmers.
Too often, in the case of environmental concerns development of animal agriculture is mistakenly seen as harmful to the environment. Global losses of tropical rainforest are a major international concern and deforestation has been associated with increased production of greenhouse gases and global warming. Another global concern is desertification. That livestock are a major factor in deforestation and desertification has become a widespread controversy in the developed world and affects donor contributions to research and development.
According to the International livestock research institute (ILRI), in an article researched by the
National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), “Empirical evidence does not support the contention that livestock necessarily contribute to these problems. In the humid and sub-humid zones the major impetus for expansion of agricultural land is population growth combined with shifting cultivation (NRC, 1993).
Work on the dynamics of Sahel ranges shows that livestock are not a major factor in degradation.
Even under the extreme grazing pressure that occurs during drought less palatable and lower productivity plants supplant more palatable, more productive species only in the short run. The more productive species are then able to re-establish themselves earlier than they might have if they had been subject to continuous grazing pressure (Hiernaux, 1994).
A review of literature on the impact of livestock on rangelands (Dodd, 1991) concluded that effects of grazing and drought had been confused and that there was no solid evidence of irreversible effects on vegetation from livestock except around water points and permanent human settlements.
Other research shows that it is mainly poverty that drives farmers to exploitative resource-depleting practices. Raising farm incomes by cash generating activities such as livestock can lead to a withdrawal from marginal areas that are susceptible to degradation.
Neither people nor policy makers in poor countries will feel concern for the environment or biological diversity, however until a higher proportion of the population is able to satisfy its basic needs and the economic system develops its capacity to respond to the rapidly increasing demands for food products.
More research and policy attention should certainly be devoted to the environmental concerns of the global community. These issues should not, however, be barriers to funding livestock research and efforts to introduce new livestock technologies since such introductions can help resolve these problems.
Sound sectoral policies in support of animal agriculture can have several effects on producers. They provide incentives to intensify livestock production with purchased inputs and to commercialize livestock activities and integrate them in the market economy.
They also encourage investment in items such as barns and fencing, encourage public investment in infrastructure to improve market efficiency, provide regulations that facilitate market operations for the supply of inputs and the delivery of animal health services and assist in providing improved credit facilities . . . “
Given Livestock are an integral part of Africa’s social, cultural and economic existence, livestock farming should be factored in policy decisions on how to address the challenges of climate change adaptation.
The question is; has Zimbabwe any mitigation plans or carried out studies for the impending food insecurity due to climate change, environmental degradation and loss of livestock from disease and heat stress?
Dr.Tony M. Monda, BSc DVM DPVM, is conducting veterinary epidemiology, disease control, agro-climatology and agro-economic research in Zimbabwe. E-mail: tonym.MONDA@gmail.com
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