Outline

• Agriculture and rural development

• Demand for livestock products

• Importance of livestock production to smallholders

• Livestock production and greenhouse gas emissions

• LivestockPlus: A new concept

• Benefits of LivestockPlus and associated strategies

• Key messages

Agriculture and Rural Development• Poverty:

‐ Three out of every four poor people in developing countries live in rural areas

‐ Most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods

• Agriculture plays a vital role in sustainable development:

‐ After many years of neglect, agriculture and food security are back on the development and political agenda

‐ Agriculture contributes not just to food production, but also to human nutrition and health

‐ It also provides other key ecosystem services at multiple scales (e.g., water and biodiversity protection)

60 years of accelerated population growth in developing countries

Agriculture and Rural Development

Developing countries:

• Expenditure on livestock products increases rapidly with increase in income (more than any other commodity group)

• Greatest increases in South and SE Asia, and Latin America

Demand for Livestock Products

Source: FAO, 2009

Revised demand for livestock products to 2050

Countries Year

Annual per capita consumption (kg)

Total consumption (Mt)

Meat Milk Meat Milk

Developing 2002

2050

28 44

44 78

137 326

222 585

Developed 2002

2050

78 94

202 216

102 126

265 295

Souce: Rosegrant et al., 2009

Developing countries:

• Smallholders predominate

• Livestock:

‐ Produce 50% of beef, 41% of milk, 72% of mutton, 59% of pork, and 53% of poultry

‐ Provide food for at least 830 million food-insecure people

Importance of Livestock Production to Smallholders

Rwanda’s “One Cow per Poor Family” Program (Girinka):

• Family either receives donation of cow or bank loan to buy one

• Calf is shared with other members of community

Photo by: ILRI

Results - poverty alleviation through:

• Reduced malnutrition risk

• Income from sale of milk and offspring

• Manure for croplands

• Community solidarity

Importance of Livestock Production to Smallholders

Dissemination of improved Brachiaria grasses in Rwanda:

• On-farm trials for participatory evaluation of improved materials of Brachiaria to increase fodder production under drought and acid soil conditions

• Across evaluation sites farmers preferred Brachiaria cv. Mulato II due to its contribution to higher milk yields during dry season

• Monitoring and evaluation of Brachiaria grass options has enhanced smallholders awareness of new forage alternatives for limiting environments

• Increased interest in improved materials: replacement of the commonly used forage grass (Napier) by Brachiaria on erosion control ridges

Importance of Livestock Production to Smallholders

Source: ISAR, Rwanda

Livestock: up to 18% of global emissions ???

Livestock Production & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Source: FAO, 2006

Source: McMichael et al., 2007

Deforestation and desertification

35.4%

Manure (direct and indirect)

35.5%

Enteric fermentation by

ruminant 25%

Artificial fertilizers (including direct)

3.4%

On-farm fossil fuel use 1.2% Other

3.6%

Livestock Emissions Source Gigatons CO2 equivalent

Land use and land-use change 2.5

Feed production 0.4

Animal production 1.9

Manure management 2.2

Processing and transport 0.03

Source: FAO

Livestock Production & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The livestock sector is responsible for: • 50% of all land use

change emissions

• 80% of all agriculture emission

Potential strategy: development of synergies for adaptation and mitigation to climate change

through improved technologies and production systems

Meat, milk & more!

Potential to mitigate climate

change and other co-benefits of forage-based

systems

LivestockPlus: A New Concept

Source: Peters et al., 2012

Multifunctional role of forage-based

production systems vs.

feedlot based systems

LivestockPlus

Source: Erb et al., 2007

Pasture lands: • 30-45% of earth’s terrestrial surface • 70% of previously forested land in the

Amazon

• 80% of all agricultural land • 1/3 arable land used for feed crop

production

LivestockPlus

Initial state: July 17, 2007 August 15, 2008

October 22, 2008

15 months

Silvopastoral systems: A mini-revolution in Colombia

and Central America!

Piedemonte Llanero, Colombia 13 months

LivestockPlus

Source: CIPAV

LivestockPlus

Benefits from improved pastures on crop production

Impact of building up of an arable

layer in low fertility acid soils to

improve maize grain yields

Maiz

e g

rain

yie

ld (

Mg

h

a-1

)

0

1

2

3

4

5

LSD 0.05 = 0.718

Native Maize Introducedsavanna monoculture pasture

Source: Amézquita et al., 2007

SOC under pastures of Brachiaria humidicola alone (Bh) and with Arachis pintoi (Ap) and native

savanna (NS) on a clay loam Oxisol on the eastern plains of Colombia

High potential of C sequestration with improved pastures

C stocks in three predominant land-use systems in the eastern

plains of Colombia

LivestockPlus A

lma

ce

na

mie

nto

de

C (

t h

a-1

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Pasto Mejorado

Pasto mejorado degradado

Sabana Nativa

(a) Puerto López (b) Puerto Gaitán (c) PromedioAverage

Improved pastureImproved pasture (degraded)Native Savanna

C s

tock

(t

ha

-1)

Source: Castro et al. (unpublished)

Source: Fisher et al., 1996

% C (modified Walkley-Black)

Cumulative nitrous oxide emissions from field plots of

tropical pasture grasses (monitored monthly from

2005-2008)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Bare Soil Soybean P.maximum Hybrid Mulato Bh 679 Bh 16888 m

g N

2O

-N m

-2 y

-1

Bare Soil Soybean P. maximum Hybrid Mulato Bh 679 Bh 16888m

gN

2O

-N m

-2y

-1

Source: PNAS 106: 17302-17307 (2009)

LivestockPlus

Option used in 2030 Kg CH4/t milk Kg CH4/t meat

Cerrado 78 1552

100% adoption of Brachiaria pasture 31 713

30% adoption of Brachiaria pasture 64 1300

Mitigation options in rangeland-based humid

and sub-humid systems in Central and South America

Source: Thornton and Herrero, 2010

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 107:19667-19672

Potential for reduced N2O, CH4 and CO2 emissions from pasture management

Sensitivity analysis in a dairy system (including fattening calves): effect of changes in key parameters on GHG emissions per unit of animal protein

• 10% increase of feed digestibility = emissions per kg protein reduced by ~15%

• 10% increase of feed digestibility and milk production = emissions per kg protein reduced by ~19%

LivestockPlus

Source: Smith P et al., 2008 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363:789-813

B1 scenario shown, though the pattern is similar for all

SRES scenarios

Developing country productions systems that are eco-efficient

LivestockPlus

LivestockPlus Grass-legume pastures can mitigate climate change

Integrated Global Warming Potential (GWP) of different land uses in the savannas of Colombia

Source: Rondon et al., 2006

-25000

-15000

-5000

5000

forest savanna sandy savanna

crops

GW

P (

kg C

O2

equ

ival

ents

)

Grassalone

pasture

Grass-legume

pasture

GWP20y GWP100y

Key Messages

• Well-managed tropical forage-based systems supported by good policies and strong institutions can contribute to improved livelihoods and to the overall quality of agro-ecosystems and the environment

• LivestockPlus is suggested as a concept for sustainable intensification of agricultural production to enhance livelihoods and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

• Increased adoption of improved feeds, including sown forages, could significantly reduce GHG on a global scale, while enhancing the livelihoods of the 1 billion people dependent on livestock-cropping systems

• Improved tropical forages could sequester large amounts of carbon – on a scale similar to that of forests – with the possibility of reducing emissions of nitrous oxide and methane per unit of livestock product

• If widely applied, could deliver huge increases in food production at reduced environmental cost against a background of rising livestock production and consumption in the developing world.