Small livestock farming promotion
01.
Small livestock contributes to household food and nutrition security
Small livestock provide smallholders with milk, meat, eggs, wool and manure, making an important contribution to household food and economic security, and playing significant economic and social and cultural roles.
02.
Small livestock contribute to household economic security
Small livestock are instrumental for poor farmers in their path out of poverty; they are a key financial asset that can be sold to fulfill immediate cash requirements and meet basic household needs such as food, medicines and school fees. Small animals and poultry, rather than larger animals, are often the livestock of the rural poor because they require fewer inputs (land, feed, time, etc.), they are more prolific and offer a faster return on investment by having a higher turnover
Small livestock are often used to accumulate assets; farmers may have few animals, but when the herd/flock increases they can be sold to purchase more expensive animals that they could not otherwise have afforded. Livelihoods or income can also result from the sale of processed and added value products such as yoghurt, cheese and processed meats; these processed foods help to bridge food availability, especially during lean seasons.
Poultry, being among the most affordable livestock, may be used to build a household’s asset base or provide income in times of need. Moreover, poultry is an important resource for the most vulnerable people, such as those living with a disability or those affected by chronic illness, because they have minimal care requirements.
03.
Small livestock are gender-sensitive
Small livestock are important assets and sources of income for both women and men in developing countries, but they can make a crucial contribution to women’s empowerment and gender equality, since women are more likely to be the owners of small livestock, while men tend to own large livestock.
Integrated home gardens are an entry point targeting women of reproductive age, and sometimes pregnant and lactating women in particular. Integrated homestead food production is considered to be a nutrition-sensitive, pro-poor and women-controlled approach to household food production; it includes vegetable and fruit gardens, backyard livestock-raising and small fish ponds. Home gardens are used mainly for the cultivation of vegetables and fruit trees, and often integrate one or two dairy cows or buffalo, and small animals such as poultry, pigs, goats (especially dairy goats), sheep, rabbits and guinea pigs (IFAD, 2015). This type of food production can enhance poor rural people’s access to a variety of nutritious fresh foods grown in close proximity to their households and therefore is a means for women and their children to access a nutritious diet.
04.
Small livestock strengthen rural people’s resilience to climate change
Livestock production contributes to climate change, and at the same time it is increasingly challenged by its impacts. Indeed, climate change affects livestock production in myriad ways, both directly, through impacts on livestock performance, and indirectly, through impacts on the environment, society and economy. Impacts will be experienced on forage yield, livestock productivity, ecological processes and farm-level profitability, possibly leading to changes in regional and national food production and incomes (World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism, 2010). The repercussions of climate change on the livestock sector will show themselves in changes in the quality and quantity of vegetation, in the reduced availability of fodder and water, and in an increase in climate change-induced diseases.
The small livestock sector has huge adaptation potential; sheep and goats transform rangeland plants that are useless to other livestock and humans into food for human consumption and for people living on marginal or infertile land.