Farmed Animal Watch
A Project of Animal Place

June 5, 2002                                                     (To Search This Page Press Ctrl F)
Issue #71

WORLD BANK'S NEW STRATEGY ON ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

The World Bank is one of the world's largest sources of developmental assistance. According to its web site, the Bank works in more than 100 developing economies "with the primary focus of helping the poorest people and the poorest countries." Its 2001 investment portfolio of animal agriculture actively financed $1.5 billion worth of projects. The Bank's strategy has been a controversial one of increasing the production of meat and other animal products.

Recently, a meeting was held to launch a new strategy outlined in the report, "Livestock Development: Implications for rural poverty, the environment and global food security." Drafted by the organization's Animal Resources Team, the report summarizes the team's current thinking on the type of activities the Bank should support. Included are recommendations on how changes in animal agriculture can be better managed. The report begins with an overview of projected trends for the next couple of decades; examines social, environmental, and health repercussions of these trends; and discusses what will be required to manage them. It concludes with an overview of the Bank's current portfolio and a future action plan.

REPORT SYNOPSIS:

Animal agriculture can play an important role in poverty reduction and make an important contribution to global food security, the report contends. It suggests that associated environmental effects can be adequately managed. Reducing the demand for animal products is dismissed as an unviable option. Instead, the report advocates increasing World Bank support to reduce poverty through animal agriculture development with an approach that focuses on people, gives high priority to the public goods aspect of poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, food security and safety, and animal welfare.

Through the report the Bank is advised to not finance large-scale commercial, grain-fed feedlot systems and industrial dairy, pig and poultry production except for the public goods aspects of environment and food safety.

LIVESTOCK REVOLUTION

A "Livestock Revolution" is expected to occur in the next two decades. Global meat production is projected to grow 56%, from 209 million tons in 1997 to 327 million tons by 2020. Global milk consumption is expected to increase 54%, from 422 million tons to 648 million tons in the same period. Some 80% of the growth in total demand for meat and 95% of the growth in demand for milk will be made by the increasingly urban and more affluent population in developing nations. These same countries are expected to be the most important suppliers to the growing market.

Meat and milk production is expected to increase by about 3% per year in developing nations in comparison to about a 0.5% growth in industrialized countries. While globalization is expected to increase trade, animal production in the developing world may increase due to port facility constraints in those countries, transportation costs, and stricter animal welfare and environmental regulations in the industrial world. The developing world will produce about 63% of "most global meat" and 50% of all milk by 2020, according to projections.

The report explains that animal agriculture has been protected in most parts of the world. Due to political significance, with meat consumption levels being a measure of well-being in those countries, it was the most heavily supported sector. Meat and milk prices are politically sensitive in many countries, and some governments continue to strictly control them. (Western Europe, Japan and the U.S. are singled out as being highly protective of red meat and milk.) Problematic environmental effects of these policies are noted.

Worldwide poultry production is expected to increase by almost 80% from 1997-2020. This is due to a better feed conversion (feed to meat) ratio than for pigs and ruminant animals, and because poultry production technology is more universal. Dairy, cattle and pig production is projected to increase by 40-50% in the same period. By 2020, animal agriculture is projected to produce about 30% of the value of global agricultural output and use 80% of the world's agricultural land surface. An increasing share of this is anticipated to come from vertically-integrated industrial production systems. Increased animal concentrations may increase the emergence of new disease patterns and the incidence of food-borne diseases. Intensive confinement systems would be "unfriendly to animal welfare."

ANIMAL WELFARE

The growing role and voice of consumers in regard to food safety, animal welfare, sustainability, and public acceptance of production systems is acknowledged. Welfare-unfriendly production systems, such as poultry batteries and sow crates, are being phased out in the EU and will become an increasingly important issue in the political economy of international development support and international trade. Increased climatic variability and recurrent drought cause great animal suffering, while the deterioration of social cohesion in many societies causes increased mistreatment of animals. Concern about animal welfare, however, is not a priority for many development planners. Policy changes that make producers responsible for environmental costs and encourage welfare-friendly "smallholder" farming are urged. The promotion of production and certification of humanely and sustainably produced products is suggested as an incentive for better farming and ranching.

DIETS

Animal agriculture is still an important component of the livelihood of about 750 million rural poor. Animal products can be a critical input in their starch-dominant diet, reducing malnutrition and improving lives. However, changes involving animal agriculture are threatening to crowd out the poor, erode the environment, compromise global food security and safety, and detrimentally affect animal welfare. In most middle-income countries, the industry is becoming concentrated in large commercial units, with improved short-term efficiency but also greater vulnerability to disasters.

The report states, "Curbing demand for meat and milk, as advocated by some (Goodland, 1997) is not a viable option, as shown by past failures to reduce the demand for other products and substances." [This statement is not elaborated on nor was the meaning of it apparent in the rest of the text.] According to the report, "The key constraint is plant-based diets do not provide high-quality energy, protein, and micronutrients. Although some leafy vegetables contain high quantities of iron, zinc, and calcium, their bio-availability is much lower than in meat and milk. Similarly, milk is an important source of calcium. It is difficult for a child to even approach calcium requirements on a cereal-based diet. Good evidence can now be presented that animal-based food could provide these nutrients." The report notes that minimal amounts of animal foods can play a critical role in reducing child mortality. Public programs targeting the poor with animal products are considered a necessary part of animal agriculture development projects.

Much of the increase in animal production is expected to involve grain, rather than forage, as feed. This shift could detrimentally affect global and national food security. Rising grain prices could negatively impact the ability of the urban poor to purchase basic food commodities while overconsumption of animal products by middle-income classes in developing nations may lead to diet-related chronic disease patterns similar to those in the industrial world. (Consumer education and a reduction of producer and consumer subsidies is recommended to reduce the incidence of chronic disease from overconsumption of animal products by the more affluent.) The report recommends an increased focus on policies and technologies which would reduce the demand for feed grain. High grain or energy prices could encourage grazing or lower consumption levels.

ENVIRONMENT

The key challenge of intensive production is said to be to bring waste production in line with the absorptive capacity of the surrounding land. (Deforestation is also a prime concern.) Zoning regulations and fiscal incentives, along with the promotion of technologies that increase the efficiency of feed conversion to reduce inputs and emissions, are suggested remedies. The trend towards intensification could be counteracted if operations are held accountable for the pollution they produce.

STRATEGY

The World Bank's Livestock Portfolio: Bank lending support for animal agriculture has been declining since the late `70's. A breakdown of the Bank's $1.5 billion animal agriculture portfolio by region, species and use is included in the report. The portfolio is strongly oriented toward cattle production but a growing share is going toward nonruminants.

Animal agriculture is viewed as a potential key sector to enable poor farmers to escape poverty. This is challenged by the pressure animal agriculture is under from public opinion and neglect from decision makers. The report notes that it must be demonstrated that the recommended shift toward public goods to reduce poverty, environmental sustainability, and food safety is critical to safeguard future populations. This coincides with negotiations between international and bilateral agencies in industrial and developing countries with widely differing perceptions of the priority to be allotted to issues such as the environment and animal welfare.

Higher demand for animal foods and resulting intensification could require greater public sector involvement in protecting the poor, mitigating negative environmental effects, protecting consumers, and ensuring food security. The report states "From past emphasis on public sector intervention to increase meat and milk production, the focus will therefore need to shift in order to: ensure that livestock maintains its critical role in poverty alleviation, mitigate the negative and enhance the positive effects of livestock on the environment, and promote technologies friendly to animal welfare."

RECOMMENDED ACTION PLAN:

1. Sharpen and increase World Bank support to reduce poverty and vulnerability through animal agriculture development. Animal agriculture is seen as the vehicle through which at least two-thirds of the rural poor can escape poverty. However, a "sea change" will be required to shift the focus from one of increasing milk and meat production for urban consumers to "the multiple functions of livestock and including poor non-livestock keepers as potential beneficiaries of livestock development." Bank support for production systems practiced by most of the rural poor would be strengthened. This would include an incentive framework which would eliminate the eventual bias for industrial production. It also calls for avoiding funding large-scale commercial, grain-fed feedlot systems and industrial dairy, pig and poultry production except to improve the public good areas of environment and food safety.

2. Increase World Bank support for management of animal agriculture/environmental interactions. The demand for animal products is projected to result in a 50% increase in the feed grain requirement, and unless the productivity per animal is greatly increased, similar increases in animal numbers are projected. This will greatly increase the pressure on the world's natural resources and, without action, continued degradation. Specific actions to counteract that are given including the promotion of ecological farming practices, developing markets for organic products, and reducing disease, mortality and waste.

3. Strengthen the Bank's Food Safety Involvement. Priorities include making sure that the world market will not inappropriately interfere with internal regulations and control or unnecessarily increase food costs, and ensuring that the interests of small countries are included in international standard-setting processes.

4. Maintain the Bank's leadership in the international community. Included in this is the development of a policy and technology framework that will enable developing countries to benefit more from the shift in the industrial countries toward less intensive forms of production.

The report concludes by noting the retirement of Bank staff involved in programs to increase milk and meat production and the opportunity this presents to strategically add new staff that can respond to the new mandates of poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, food safety and skills development. Future staffing suggestions are elaborated.

MISCELLANEOUS POINTS OF INTEREST:

Veterinary/Husbandry Skills

The last 20 years has seen a significant decline in skills in animal health and nutrition, breeding, etc., in developing countries. Despite a great increase in the number of university graduates, the net result has been an oversupply of poorly trained and poorly functioning veterinarians. Furthermore, animal agriculture almost worldwide has shifted from herders and farmers with experience to new entrepreneurs or "smallholders" with less knowledge.

Biotech/Breeding

Biotechnology is seen as playing an important role in meeting the increased demand for milk and meat. Numerous reproductive and genetic technologies are considered, including artificial insemination (AI), cloning, genome mapping, recombinant bovine growth hormone. (Conception rates via AI in developing countries are said to be less than 50%, almost without exception, which is contrary to most poor farmers' main objective of obtaining regular offspring. It is also expensive.)

An incentive framework often exists that favors exotic breeds, ill-adapted to the local environment, that are sustained through subsidized feed concentrate, AI, and veterinary services.

Faulty performance monitoring (e.g., using annual yields rather than lifetime yields, and using biological yields rather than efficiency or production costs) is partially to blame. Some tropical breeds of particular interest are in danger of extinction. These policies pose a threat to genetic diversity and long-term breeding goals.

Research

The current situation in national livestock research systems in most of the Bank's client countries is said to be one of erroneous priorities, with the focus mostly on "modern" production systems and on-station research. The report argues for research to focus primarily on poverty alleviation, the environmental effects of animal agriculture development, and food safety effects.

Slaughter

Subsidies for hygienic improvements, including upgrading slaughter facilities, might be justified for countries that reach certain standards and/or to access export markets, or where positive effects on food safety or animal welfare can be detected. Many countries are facing problems involving inadequate slaughtering facilities and overcapacity. In many instances, the slaughter fee required to ensure functioning of the facility is so high that many butchers adopt alternative (clandestine) slaughtering. The report contends that public sector support of well-managed animal slaughtering facilities may be justified for a variety of reasons.

The report can be accessed at:

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDS_IBank_Servlet?pcont=details&eid=000094946_01112104010387