The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in 1992 discussed the environmental impacts and sustainability of agriculture Livestock were recognised as key components of environmental impacts and sustainability with important roles in relation to several objectives addressed under the Agenda 21 agreements of UNCED, including:
Managing fragile ecosystems combating desertification and drought (Chapter 12)
Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development (Chapter 14)
Conservation of biological diversity (Chapter 15), and Environmentally sound management of biotechnology (Chapter 16).
Discussions under UNCED recognised the need for more objective assessments of the factors affecting sustainability and environmental impacts, and a better understanding of measures to promote positive influences and mitigate or control possible negative effects of some agricultural and development practices. Following UNCED it was therefore decided to instigate a series of studies to review the roles of livestock in sustainable agriculture and the interactions of livestock with the environment. A multidonor group and Steering Committee comprised of The World Bank, FAO and the development agencies of USA, UK, Germany, France, Denmark and The Netherlands was formed and proposals for the studies prepared by The World Bank, FAO and USAID.
The objectives of the studies were to:
Provide an objective quantitative and qualitative assessment of the positive and negative linkages between livestock and the environment;
Review policies and technologies which would mitigate negative effects and enhance the positive associations of livestock and the environment and
Attempt to develop standardized environmental evaluation procedures for livestock projects across donor agencies
The study was structured to cover a series of issues ('domains') across three major groupings of livestock production systems (landless; mixed farming irrigated or rainfed; and grazing systems) and three agro-ecological zones (temperate and tropical highlands; sub-humid tropics; and arid and semi-arid tropics and sub-tropics). Certain major issues were recognised to cut across all or most of these systems and zones (classed as 'global domains'); these were methane emissions, animal genetic resources and the demand for concentrate feeds. Other issues were recognised as cutting across only certain production systems and zones ('system specific domains'), such as crop-livestock interactions, range utilization, waste disposal and others.
Domain studies were required to examine the nature of linkages to the environment to identify key indicators of impacts and to undertake an impact assessment study to describe and quantify impacts in all affected systems and zones. Specific impact assessment studies were designed to be carried out separately within each livestock production system, applying the indicators of impacts identified in domain studies, and making specific recommendations on policy to promote sustainable environmental interactions. Domain and system impact assessment studies have been coordinated by the World Bank and FAO to form the basis of a series of publications to address the overall objectives outlined above.
Terms of reference for the study of the impacts of the demand for concentrate feeds are included in Appendix 7. The main components are outlined below:
The study comprises, in general terms, the identification of key indicators, both in physical and economic terms, for the global impact domain demand for concentrate feed and the assessment of related direct and indirect interactions with the environment, both globally and with reference to specific livestock production systems.
Key indicators: Based on the definition of impact domains as agreed by the Steering Committee, the consultants will identify relevant key indicators that allow to assess the impact of livestock production systems on the environment in physical and economic terms. For each impact domain, the development of indicators, threshold values, and evaluation techniques will be based on a review of the current state of art, experience from development projects and programmes, an inventory of regulatory measures and their effectiveness. For each indicator, ways of obtaining relevant data shall be identified as well as methods of data analysis
Impact assessment: The consultant will be supplied with a classification and a general description of the relevant livestock production systems. For each production system, major positive and negative environmental externalities will be assessed with regard to all nine impact domains. Adapting present methodology to the case of livestock and the environment, the environmental effects will be quantified in physical and, where possible, economic terms. The geographic coverage will be global and include all production systems. The consultant shall equally document the existence of environmentally sound and unsound practice). Sector policies impacting livestock/environment interactions (eg promoting crop production in marginal lands) shall be reviewed. It will be shown how these issues relate to environmental stability.
Options and strategies: Institutional and technological options will be analysed as to their capacity to alleviate environmental stress and to promote the development of environmentally sustainable livestock production systems. For each production system, conclusions and recommendations will be made with regard to livestock environmental interactions focusing on appropriate technologies and mitigation activities; education and extension; financial stimulations (taxes, levies and subsidies); project and programme design; monitoring and evaluation; and future research needs. These will lead to the establishment of a standard methodology for formulation and appraisal of policies and programmes and to the development of practical guidelines for project design and evaluation.
The study was implemented by the Natural Resources Institute, UK, funded by the European Union, under the coordination of the EU Scientific Environmental Monitoring Group (SEMG).
The approach to the study had to be simplified in view of the funding and manpower resources available. The approach adopted has included the following:
outline of the current availability and utilization of concentrate feeds in different production systems and zones in order to identify major sources and components of demand for feeds (see Chapter 2)
examination of factors affecting demand for concentrates (human populations and incomes, urbanisation, demand for livestock products), and supply of feed commodities (production, trade, competition with food supply, and the effects of trade and agricultural development policies) in order to define future trends and factors underlying any environmental impacts of concentrate feed demand (Chapter 3)
identification of specific crop commodities providing concentrate feeds and their relative importance and sources in order to identify potential sources of environmental impacts of crop production and trade (Chapter 3)
review of the general nature of environmental impacts of concentrate feed supply (production, trade and processing), including impacts on land-use and biodiversity, soils, water and air, the significance of agricultural inputs and fuel energy demand, and the specific impacts of major crops providing feeds (Chapter 4)
identification of direct and indicators of environmental impacts (within the OECD pressure, state, response framework), and monitoring methods (Chapter 5)
review of policy options and guidelines for project and programme planning (Chapter 6)
Major difficulties in achieving the terms of reference have been encountered in the identification and quantification of environmental impacts of feed supply. There are few comprehensive reviews or detailed specific case studies of environmental impacts of feed crop production in the literature. Further, there are as yet no detailed descriptions of the mechanisms and linkages whereby socio-economic conditions, agricultural or environmental policy measures, or incentive and disincentive structures (subsidies, price controls, environmental taxes etc) have exerted impacts on environments, particularly for the indirect linkages of livestock production policies to crop production for concentrate feeds.
The linkages between specific livestock production systems utilizing concentrates and the systems in which the concentrates are produced (and therefore their environmental impacts) are also not clear. The dislocation of many livestock production systems from crop production (in different farms, under different management, in different agro-ecological zones and countries) and the variety of routes of supply of concentrates by local or international trade complicate the tracing of environmental impacts. The lack of such data makes it impossible at present to quantify the impacts of particular livestock production or farming systems zones as required in the study Terms of Reference. (It may also be noted that the attribution of impacts to the highly aggregated groups of livestock production or farming systems zones defined for the study would present further difficulties of estimation and interpretation even if data were available from some constituent systems). Finally, there are difficulties of apportioning any environmental impacts of cropping for multiple purpose crops, most concentrate feeds are derived as co- or by-products of food or industrial crops.
These deficiencies make it difficult to identify sensitive indicators of environmental impacts for particular livestock production systems. It is particularly difficult to identify useful indirect indicators at this stage (such as the ratios of feed crop to livestock product prices), and impossible to illustrate their use or quantify threshold levels etc. Much further research is required in particular case studies to develop these indicators.
The approach adopted by this study has therefore been to try to indicate the relative significance of the different sources of potential environmental impacts (such as the proportional production of crops used solely for feeds or the production of feed crops for international trade). The degree of potential environmental impacts of the different livestock production systems are illustrated crudely by their relative consumption of feeds (as estimated in Chapter 2 and Appendix 3). The types of environmental impacts likely to derive from the production, transport and processing of feeds are outlined in Chapter 4, being mainly due to land-use and cropping for commodity production. Possible direct and indirect indicators of these impacts are identified in Chapter 5, though these remain to be tested in particular applications.
1.4.1. The use of concentrate feeds in livestock production systems
Concentrate feeds are used to some extent in most livestock production systems where they supply or supplement essential nutrients to increase livestock productivity, to improve the efficiency of overall feed use and (particularly for ruminants) to improve the utilization of low quality roughage or by-product derived feeds. Globally concentrates supply about a quarter of all animal feeds, and up to 40% of all feeds in developed countries. Concentrate utilization generally increases with intensification of production systems.
Global annual utilization of concentrate feeds now amounts to about 1000 million mt (982 mill. mt in 1990/92, including roots and tuber feeds in fresh weight terms). Cereals constituted over 60% of this, with cereal milling brans, oilseeds, oilcakes (and meals), roots and tubers supplying 12%, 1.4%, 12% and 13% respectively in 1990/92. Maize is by far the most important feed, comprising over half global cereal feeds consumption. Wheat and barley comprise a further 20% each while sorghum, oats, rye and millet together comprise less than 10%. Soyabean similarly dominates oilseed and meal utilization, at over 60% of consumption. Cotton seed, rape and sunflower meals each comprise about 10%, with all other oilseeds contributing less than 10% of the total. Regional differences are evident, however, depending on local production conditions. Of the roots and tubers, cassava, potatoes and sweet potatoes each provide about 20-25% of total consumption.
Concentrates are particularly important in the diets of monogastric livestock, making up 80-90% of the global average diets of poultry and pigs compared to only 10% and 2% respectively of the diets of cattle/buffalo and sheep/goat populations. The quality of concentrates is also generally higher in non-ruminant diets, with lower proportions of brans, by-products and 'other concentrates'. In more intensive systems, however, ruminant diets may include more concentrates (up to 30% in forage/ concentrate milk production systems and 60-70% in intensive beef fattening systems).
Overall, because of their size and numbers, ruminant livestock actually consume about a third of total concentrates. In 1992/93, in the production systems defined for this study (by Sere 1994, see Appendix 1), pig meat, poultry meat and eggs, cattle milk, cattle/buffalo meat and small ruminant meat production were estimated to have consumed 34%, 28%, 25%, 13% and 1% of concentrates respectively. Landless monogastric (LLM) systems consumed about one third of total concentrates, mixed rainfed temperate systems (MRT, mainly cattle milk production in developed regions) consumed about a quarter and landless ruminant systems (LLR, mainly beef fattening) about 10%, with the rest spread evenly amongst the remaining mixed farming systems.
1.4.2. Factors affecting feed commodity supply and demand
The major factors affecting the demand for concentrate feeds include human population growth, economic growth and distribution of income; demand for livestock products and consumption preferences; livestock populations and composition; livestock feeding systems and available feed resources; economic and trade policy and conditions; and agricultural development policy.
Key factors are human population and income growth. Modest population and economic growth is likely to maintain the already high demand for livestock products in developed regions (though they will take a decade to recover to pre-1990 levels in E Europe and the former USSR). Concerns over health and ethical issues may restrict demand growth in these regions. Rapid population and economic growth in some developing regions (especially SE and E Asia and Central and Southern America) will allow increased per capita GDP growth. Given the current relatively low levels of consumption of livestock products and the high income elasticities of demand, the per capita growth of demand and consumption of livestock products is predicted to be about 2.8%/year over all developing countries. Much of this increase will be in the form of poultry meat and egg production, and secondarily in cattle milk production.
These trends will translate to increased demand for concentrate feeds. Demand and supply of all feeds is expected to stabilize in developed regions but to grow at 2.8-4.2% year in different developing regions over the period 1988/90-2010. Increases in cereals usage are estimated at 34% over the 20 years to 2010, rising by only 9% in developed regions but more than doubling in developing regions (+112%). Larger increases in demand for oilseeds and meals are expected, rising by 58% over the same period. Particularly significant increases in demand for oilmeals are expected to occur in China (+126%), India (+83%) and Brazil (+153%).
Demand for feeds can be influenced by changes in feeding systems and processing of feeds including multi-phase feeding, supply of essential nutrients in pure forms (eg amino acids), increasing diet digestibility by treatment (eg by enzymes) and improved livestock husbandry to maximize feed conversion efficiency. The overall significance of these techniques may not be great at a global level but could, if economically feasible, reduce feed consumption per unit of product by 5-10% in the presently more intensive production systems.
Prospects for increased production to meet concentrate feed demand are good. Despite recent declines in total production and removal of some land from cropping in developed regions (mainly due to economic recession), trends suggest continued modest increases in average yields of major feed crops. In developing regions, yield increases have continued strongly for coarse grains, from initially low levels. Recent increases in oilseeds production in developing regions have come more from increases in cropped areas at low yields. Prospects for intensification of production and increased yields are good in many areas, though availability of high potential land will be a constraint in some regions. Potential problems of competition with human food supply do not appear to be borne out by experience; most successfully developing countries have been able to meet both demands at falling real prices.
World trade in feed commodities is also expected to increase. Recent reforms in developed region agricultural policies (eg in EU, USA and Japan) and the 1992 GATT agreements will lead to modest extra increases in coarse grain and oilmeals trade, and more production in areas with comparative advantage. In general, reform of agricultural policies and structural adjustment programmes are expected to have beneficial effects in ensuring more efficient crop production, input utilization, trading systems and feed utilization.
1.4.3. Potential environmental impacts of the supply of concentrate feed commodities
The potential environmental impacts of the supply of concentrate feeds include impacts of crop production, trade and processing. Potential impacts of crop production and the expansion of production include effects on land-use and biodiversity (loss of forests, grasslands, wildlife habitats, non-target species); effects on soils (soil erosion and fertility), water (use of water resources and contamination of drainage waters), and air (air quality and greenhouse gas production); and indirect effects of the production and supply of inputs to agriculture (mechanisation, fuels, fertilizers, pesticides, etc).
Potential impacts of trade and processing of commodities include direct effects (mainly on air and water) due to transport, storage and processing (eg wastes and effluents), and indirect effects of input supplies as above
The potential impacts due to crop production and trade depend on the extent of cropping and on the proportion of commodities traded. Globally in 1990/92, a total of 31% of arable land was cropped with coarse grains, wheat, oilseeds, roots and tubers destined for feed-use, or 21% if it is assumed that all oilseeds would have been grown for oil products in any case. These proportions varied markedly between countries, from 17% in India to 44% in China for example. International trade (and transport) amounted to only 15% of total feed-use, though intra-country transport would have been more. Feed commodity production may be estimated to comprise less than 0.5% of global energy consumption (for fertilizers, pesticides, mechanisation (manufacture) and fuels).
The environmental impacts actually caused by feed production depend on many interacting factors, including: the nature of the natural resource base and climate; prevailing cropping systems and intensity; specific features of the crop grown; available technologies and inputs; socio-economic conditions; and the environmental policy and regulatory framework. There are few cases in the literature where impacts have been measured and documented, or where the mechanisms of factors affecting impacts have been traced in detail. There are no studies which document the impact of crop production for feeds compared to production for other uses. Impacts may be both positive and negative, direct and/or remote (downstream), and to some extent site specific. Quantification of impacts is thus complex and site specific, and aggregation over systems and zones difficult and potentially misleading. Impacts due to particular
1.4.4. Indicators of environmental impacts of feed commodity production
Concern over potential environmental impacts has prompted the development of methods to monitor the state of the environment and the pressures exterted on it. Indicators are simple measurable descriptors for such monitoring. Indicators are identified within the pressure-state-response framework outlined by OECD (1993) Indicators of pressures on the environment are defined as either direct (eg emmission rates), or indirect (referring to the background factors that create pressures, such as population growth and economic development). Indicators of the state of the environment measure the condition of resources such as land, soils, vegetation, air, water, biodiversity and others. Indicators of societal responses describe the policy or activity responses to environmental concerns, including actions to prevent or mitigate impacts, or to encourage positive and discourage negative impacts.
A wide range of possible indicators may be identified, and may need to be considered for specific applications. These are outlined in Tables 37 to 41 (pp 92-96). Key indicators of the state of the environment are identified (Table 41) to monitor aspects of land-use (eg proportions of land cropped or maintained in special habitats and reserves), soil conditions (eg depth, bulk density, fertility), and water conditions (levels of nitrates, phosphates or pesticides). Key direct indicators of pressures include changes in land-use, and contamination of water effluents. Indirect indicators of pressures potentially include factors related to the demand for feed concentrates, such as the levels and trends in consumption of livestock products, rates of consumption of livestock feeds, relative prices of feed and food commodities and of feeds and livestock products, and proportions of home (country) consumption or export of feed commodities. Indirect indicators may also be identified to monitor the intensity of agriculture and the levels of inputs utilized, such as cropping indices, average yields and the use of inputs (fertilizers, pesticides and mechanisation). Further research is, however, required to trace the relevance and identify the most useful indirect indicators of impacts for particular situations.
