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Milk availability

Trends in production and demand and medium-term outlook

Year of publication 2012

Author Stefano Gerosa and Jakob Skoet;Agriculture and Economic Development Analysis Division

Product type Document

Series title FAO Agricultural Economics Working Paper

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This paper reviews trends in global production and consumption of dairy products as well as the drivers behind increasing production and consumption. The past decades have seen rapid growth in consumption of dairy products in several parts of – but not all of – the developing world, driven by economic growth and rising income levels. However, large differences in levels of per caput consumption among developing country regions and countries persist. Increasing consumption in developing countries has been accompanied by a major expansion of production in several developing countries, significantly outpacing production growth in the developed country group. In addition to growing demand, production growth has been driven by technological change in the sector, which has permitted major increases in productivity and the emergence of large-scale commercial dairy farms. However, small-scale dairy producers in several developing countries have remained at the margin of these developments. The rapid expansion and transformation of the global dairy sector contributes to growing threats to the environment and to human and animal health as well as to increasing pressures on the livelihoods of small-scale dairy producers. These issues require attention in order to allow the continued development of the sector in a sustainable and socially balanced way.

Language English

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