Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) five promotes women’s empowerment and equality of opportunities between men and women. FAO is dedicated to achieve this goal: it recognizes the essential role women play in agriculture and that eliminating inequalities between genders is important to building sustainable and inclusive food systems (FAO, 2020). To this end, it is important to understand women’s role in agriculture through available evidence. The FAO Africa Sustainable Livestock 2050 (ASL 2050) collected data on the practices of actors of the poultry value chain in selected subregions in urban and peri-urban areas of Kenya and Uganda through key informant interviews. This brief presents results of this survey disaggregated by gender providing an insight on women’s role and behaviour in urban and peri-urban poultry farms that are likely to become more and more relevant in the future given the current demand and production trends. To our knowledge, it is the first time gender disaggregated data are presented on adoption of biosecurity related practices across the poultry value chain.

This brief explores the presence and characteristics of youth working in the poultry sector through data collected in two urban and peri-urban subregions in Kenya and Uganda. Youth empowerment and employment have gained prominence in national and international policy agenda. The growing livestock sector has great potential to provide employment opportunities, but available evidence suggests that there is limited interest among young people in engaging in livestock activities. The sample includes mainly small and mid-size business-oriented entrepreneurs and not subsistence-oriented backyard poultry keepers. The data shows that the presence of youth involved in the poultry value chain with respect to their share in the total working age population is 16 to 32 percentage points lower in Kenya and 5 to 27 percentage points lower in Uganda. The share of young people is particularly low among producers, which may be due to high initial investment requirements. The average number of birds raised per year is lower among the age groups under 40 in Kenya, while differences in size of business are smaller in Uganda. The share of women is lower among young people along the entire value chain, which may be due to them being occupied with raising children and the lack of backyard poultry keepers in the sample. At the marketing node, considerably more young people have fixed stalls and use plastic or metal cages than their older colleagues. The data presented is on predominantly urban and peri-urban areas and the presence of youth would be probably lower in rural areas.

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.

In Kenya, to satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for animal source food (ASFs) of growing urbann populations, livestock holdings and value chains in and around peri-urban and urban areas are transforming more rapidly than elsewhere in the country, risking to exacerbate the negative impacts of livestock keeping on the environment and public health. The extent to which livestock-associated pathogens pose risks to public health is determined by the broader context in which livestock stakeholders operate and behave, both collectively and individually. Understanding stakeholders' behaviour as they perform various functions along the various livestock value chains is therefore crucial to inform, revise, and update policies. In order to identify major public health hazards associated with the particularly rapidly expanding poultry value chain(s), FAO, in collaboration with the veterinary service directorates of urban and peri-urban counties of Kiambu and Nairobi, surveyed the poultry value chain actors to assess their business practices and extent to which they comply with recommended biosecurity and public health practices.

In Uganda, to satisfy the rapidly increasing demand of growing urban populations for animal source food (ASFs), livestock holdings and value chains in and around peri-urban and urban areas are transforming more rapidly than elsewhere in the country, exacerbating the potential negative impacts of livestock keeping on the environment and public health. In order to identify major public health hazards associated with the particularly rapidly expanding poultry value chain(s), we surveyed the poultry value chain actors in Wakiso and Mukono districts. We assessed their business practices and the extent to which they comply with recommended legislation on biosecurity and public health practices.

Although much has been said about livestock's role in achieving food security in reality, the subject has been only partially addressed and no current document fully covers the topic. Recognizing that food security is central to international development - and to the mandate of FAO - this report tells story of livestock and food security from three perspectives. It begins by presenting a global overview, examining the role that livestock play in human nutrition, the world food supply access to food particularly for poor families. Next it moves from the global level to a human perspective, examining the way in which livestock contributes to the food security of three different human populations-livestock-dependent societies, small-scale mixed farmers and urban dwellers. The final part of the report looks to the future. It discusses the expected demand for livestock source food and the way that increased demand can be met with ever more limited resources. It reviews the drivers that led to the livestock revolution, how these have changed and what the implications will be for livestock contributing to resilient food systems of the future. Book jacket.

The poultry sector continues to grow and industrialize in many parts of the world. An increasing human population, greater purchasing power and urbanization have been strong drivers of growth. A clear division is developing between industrialized production systems of large and medium size feeding into integrated value chains, and extensive production systems supporting livelihoods and supplying local or niche markets. The primary role of the former is to supply cheap and safe food to populations often distant from the source of supply, while the latter acts as a livelihood safety net, often as part of a diverse portfolio of income sources. Understanding how poultry production systems and value chains work is essential in order to develop a country’s poultry sector sustainably. This review for Tanzania is part of a series of Livestock Country Reviews developed by FAO's Animal Production and Health Division (AGA). The reviews aim to support sustainable and effective development interventions and policy recommendations and contribute to informed decision-making and investments in the poultry sector by: (i) providing information and data about national poultry supply chains (with a special focus on poultry production); (ii) analysing strengths, weaknesses and prospects along the supply chain; and (iii) identifying opportunities for poultry sector development.