FAO-APHCA Regional Workshop on
Area-Wide Integration of Crop-Livestock Activities
Distinguished Participants,
Outstanding Speakers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to be with you, and to welcome you all to the FAO-APHCA Regional Workshop on Area-Wide Integration of Crop-Livestock Activities. This subject, to be discussed over the next three days, is somewhat new but increasingly crucial in most countries in Asia and the Pacific Region.
Among the regions of the world, Asia has the fastest developing livestock sector. Growing incomes, expanding urbanisation and education combined with increasing population, fuel the rapidly growing demand for livestock products, in particular meat. Even when the rapid growth of the livestock sector has been disrupted by the recent financial crisis in some countries, it is widely viewed that the effects will be temporary and that most countries will return to solid growth in the long run.
As a result of the surging demand for livestock products, there has been a dramatic shift from diets that were predominantly vegetable-based to more and more inclusion of animal protein. This shift has resulted in an on-going transformation of the livestock sectors in the region, with subsequent implications for FAO's programme and priorities.
Most notably, the rapidly increasing demand for livestock products has given rise to forms of production which are essentially detached from its supporting land base. Livestock production systems are evolutionary responses to population pressure, resource endowment and marketing opportunities. Traditionally, grazing systems with minimal or no imported inputs and mixed farming systems where livestock and crop activities are integrated, have produced the bulk of animal products. However, as the demand for animal products increases rapidly, land-based livestock production often fail to respond. This raises a number of concerns for specialists and policy makers involved in livestock production and associated areas.
The commercial form of livestock production allows units to be moved to locations where production is most profitable. This has led to animal concentrations that are out of balance with the waste absorptive and feed supply capacity of the land. This entails a nutrient transfer from the feed producing areas to urban and peri-urban areas where animal production is taking place. As a consequence, the feed-producing areas are gradually depleted in terms of nutrients and overall fertility, and excess nutrient loading occurs in areas where animals are concentrated, leading to environmental pollution of land and water. Imported feed and raw materials (grain, fish floor, etc) are increasingly needed for the livestock industry.
Unparalleled animal densities, intensive forms of production and the close vicinity of human with animal populations, result in a series of human threats, including diseases transmitted by animals to human, and bio-chemical and bacterial contamination of meat and milk.
The rise of large-scale commercial farming, often encouraged by government policies, is creating a series of social problems. Small farmers find it difficult to compete and are being supplanted. The growth stimulus coming from the strong demand for livestock products is not transmitted to the rural areas where it could trigger broader development and more equitable distribution. We have to keep in mind that in some countries, the backbone of the livestock industry consists of small farmers, each having 2 or 3 cattle. They do need good technical support as well as an encouraging production environment.
Quite obviously, there are benefits of this structural change as well. They lie in the dietary improvements that come from the cheap supply of high quality animal protein. Others relate to the creation of employment and income, particularly in the post-harvest food chain.
Further development of livestock production is likely to be constrained by inadequate support services such as breeding, animal health services and animal feed industry in the up-stream and good livestock product handling, processing and quality control in the down-stream phase of the industry. Appropriate policies and investment should resolve these constraints.
The threats and opportunities that are associated with the above, call for a comprehensive analysis, and subsequent action be taken by policy-makers and specialists. Weak infrastructure and processing facilities, lack of regulations and their enforcement, and limited planning capacities are the main causes. Many governments and local authorities attempt to relocate livestock production from the urban centres to rural areas. By doing so, not only the waste problem would be alleviated but an important impulse for growth and development would be given to the rural areas.
With its new livestock programme, FAO (AGA in conjunction with RAP) is taking the lead to develop new forms of area-wide integration of crop and livestock activities with an aim to blend the efficiencies of specialised production with the assimilative capacities and feed supply of rural areas. The ultimate objective is to device a decentralised form of development that channels growth stimuli to people at the margin. To that effect, FAO has conducted a series of studies in Asian countries and in other regions.
The results of these studies are now being reported at this regional workshop, together with other relevant experiences from the region. The workshop will also dwell on specific technical expertise. The combined information and knowledge will then be turned into concrete guidelines for policy makers, planners, researchers and development workers to establish novel forms of area-wide integration between specialised crop and livestock activities as a central piece of rational agriculture development.
Lastly, I sincerely hope that you will enjoy your discussions as well as your stay here in Bangkok and I look forward to the success of this Workshop. Again, I welcome you all and humbly declare this Workshop open. Thank you.
