Livestock sector decision-makers can reduce public health risks by ensuring that stakeholders comply with good practices that prevent disease entry and spread. In most countries, animal health policies, strategies and legislation are, to some extent, comprehensive and require that most stakeholders along the value chain adopt such good practices. However, they are often poorly implemented. Understanding stakeholders' behaviour as they perform various functions along the livestock value chain is crucial to facilitate the implementation of policies. The FAO Africa Sustainable Livestock 2050 team collected data in 2-2 districts of Kenya and Uganda on stakeholders’ compliance in the private sector with a set of biosecurity practices along the poultry value chain. This brief presents an overview of the survey results in the two countries. The data shows that in both countries, the level of compliance among poultry value chain actors is usually high for practices that have direct implications on birds health and, hence, profit. Compliance is low with disease reporting and obtaining licenses and health certificates, suggesting room for improvement of interactions between the public and private sector. Producers showed the highest compliance with the law as compared to other value chain actors, such as slaughterers and traders. FAO will collaborate with local government officials and private sector actors to co-create solutions that improve the implementation of legislation that targets reduction of livestock related public health risks.

The growing population, urbanization and increasing incomes will result in an increased demand for animal source food products. To ensure the development of a healthy and productive livestock sector, investments are needed from the public and private sectors. We assess whether poultry producers are in a position to play a role in the development of healthy poultry systems by investing in biosecurity through examples of enterprise budgets of producers from Egypt, Kenya and Uganda. In all three countries, the most important revenue item is sale of broilers (>98 percent of total revenues). The two largest cost items are the purchase of day-old chicks (DOCs) and feed, covering 75 to 92 percent of total costs. Feed is the largest cost item at bigger farms (~5 000 birds per cycle) while purchase of DOCs is the largest cost item at smaller farms (~500 birds per cycle). The observed poultry businesses are profitable, profit margins range from 7 to 56 percent, and annual profits equal 2.3 (Kenya large farm) to 3.5 (Egypt) times the GDP per capita in the countries. Investment in biosecurity can potentially increase profits, however, the impact on profit is very context specific, depending on the different features of the businesses, their exposure to disease risk and market characteristics. We illustrate an example of a small farm in Uganda where profits increased by 10.8 percent after adopting three biosecurity practices.

Greenhouse gas emissions by the livestock sector could be cut by as much as 30 percent through the wider use of existing best practices and technologies. FAO conducted a detailed analysis of GHG emissions at multiple stages of various livestock supply chains, including the production and transport of animal feed, on-farm energy use, emissions from animal digestion and manure decay, as well as the post-slaughter transport, refrigeration and packaging of animal products. This report represents the most comprehensive estimate made to-date of livestocks contribution to global warming as well as the sectors potential to help tackle the problem. This publication is aimed at professionals in food and agriculture as well as policy makers.

By 2050 the world's population is projected to grow by one-third, reaching between 9 and 10 billion. With globalization and expected growth in global affluence, a substantial increase in per capita meat, dairy, and fish consumption is also anticipated. The demand for calories from animal products will nearly double, highlighting the critical importance of the world's animal agriculture system. Meeting the nutritional needs of this population and its demand for animal products will require a significant investment of resources as well as policy changes that are supportive of agricultural production. Ensuring sustainable agricultural growth will be essential to addressing this global challenge to food security. Critical Role of Animal Science Research in Food Security and Sustainability identifies areas of research and development, technology, and resource needs for research in the field of animal agriculture, both nationally and internationally. This report assesses the global demand for products of animal origin in 2050 within the framework of ensuring global food security; evaluates how climate change and natural resource constraints may impact the ability to meet future global demand for animal products in sustainable production systems; and identifies factors that may impact the ability of the United States to meet demand for animal products, including the need for trained human capital, product safety and quality, and effective communication and adoption of new knowledge, information, and technologies. The agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges that will require innovations, new technologies, and new ways of approaching agriculture if the food, feed, and fiber needs of the global population are to be met. The recommendations of Critical Role of Animal Science Research in Food Security and Sustainability will inform a new roadmap for animal science research to meet the challenges of sustainable animal production in the 21st century.

The World Livestock 2013: Changing disease landscapes looks at the evidence of changing disease dynamics involving livestock and explores three key areas: the Pressure, including drivers and risk factors that contribute to disease emergence, spread and persistence; the State, describing the disease dynamics that result from the Pressure and their subsequent impact; and the Response, required both to adapt and improve the State and to mitigate the Pressure. The report argues that a comprehensive approach for the promotion of global health is needed to face the complexities of the changing disease landscapes, giving greater emphasis on agro-ecological resilience, protection of biodiversity and efficient use of natural resources to ensure safer food supply chains, particularly in areas worst afflicted by poverty and animal diseases. Speeding up response times by early detection and reaction – including improved policies that address disease drivers – is key. Forging a safer, healthier world requires engagement in the One Health approach, which involves all relevant actors and disciplines spanning animal, human and environmental health sectors.

Meat, Milk & More: Policy Innovations to Shepherd Inclusive and Sustainable Livestock Systems in Africa highlights options for sustainably promoting growth in the livestock sector, drawing from what four African countries—Ethiopia, Mali, South Africa, and Uganda—have done successfully in terms of institutional and policy innovation as well as programmatic interventions. By adapting these lessons to countries’ specific contexts and scaling them up across the continent, African governments can meet their national and international commitments to agricultural growth and transformation.

On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.