Presentation by Aracely Castro at the 2012 Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) in Rio de Janiero, Learning Event No. 3, Session 1: How can sustainable intensification of livestock production through improved feeding practices help realize livelihood and environmental benefits? http://www.agricultureday.org

2. Outline
• Agriculture and rural development
• Demand for livestock products
• Importance of livestock production to smallholders
• Livestock production and greenhouse gas emissions
• LivestockPlus: A new concept
• Benefits of LivestockPlus and associated strategies
• Key messages

3. Agriculture and Rural Development
• Poverty:
‐ Three out of every four poor people in
developing countries live in rural areas
‐ Most depend on agriculture for their
livelihoods
• Agriculture plays a vital role in
sustainable development:
‐ After many years of neglect,
agriculture and food security are back
on the development and political
agenda
‐ Agriculture contributes not just to
food production, but also to human
nutrition and health
‐ It also provides other key ecosystem
services at multiple scales (e.g., water
and biodiversity protection)

4. Agriculture and Rural Development
60 years of accelerated population growth in
developing countries

5. Demand for Livestock Products
Source: FAO, 2009
Developing countries:
• Expenditure on livestock products increases rapidly with
increase in income (more than any other commodity group)
• Greatest increases in South and SE Asia, and Latin America

6. Importance of Livestock Production to Smallholders
Revised demand for livestock products to 2050
Annual per capita consumption Total consumption
(kg) (Mt)
Countries Year Meat Milk Meat Milk
2002 28 44 137 222
Developing
2050 44 78 326 585
2002 78 202 102 265
Developed
2050 94 216 126 295
Souce: Rosegrant et al., 2009
Developing countries:
• Smallholders predominate
• Livestock:
‐ Produce 50% of beef, 41% of milk, 72% of mutton, 59% of pork,
and 53% of poultry
‐ Provide food for at least 830 million food-insecure people

7. Importance of Livestock Production to Smallholders
Rwanda’s “One Cow per Poor Family” Program (Girinka):
• Family either receives donation of cow or bank loan to buy one
• Calf is shared with other members of community
Results - poverty alleviation
through:
• Reduced malnutrition risk
• Income from sale of milk and
offspring
• Manure for croplands
• Community solidarity
Photo by: ILRI

8. Importance of Livestock Production to Smallholders
Dissemination of improved Brachiaria
grasses in Rwanda:
• On-farm trials for participatory evaluation of
improved materials of Brachiaria to increase fodder
production under drought and acid soil conditions
• Across evaluation sites farmers preferred Brachiaria
cv. Mulato II due to its contribution to higher milk
yields during dry season
• Monitoring and evaluation of Brachiaria grass
options has enhanced smallholders awareness of
new forage alternatives for limiting environments
• Increased interest in improved materials:
replacement of the commonly used forage grass
(Napier) by Brachiaria on erosion control ridges
Source: ISAR, Rwanda

9. Livestock Production & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Livestock: up to 18% of global emissions ???
On-farm fossil fuel use
1.2% Other
3.6%
Artificial fertilizers Deforestation and
(including direct) desertification
3.4% 35.4%
Enteric
fermentation by
ruminant
25%
Manure
(direct and indirect)
35.5%
Source: McMichael et al., 2007
Source: FAO, 2006

10. Livestock Production & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Livestock Emissions Source Gigatons CO2 equivalent
The livestock sector is Land use and land-use change 2.5
responsible for:
• 50% of all land use Feed production 0.4
change emissions Animal production 1.9
• 80% of all
agriculture emission Manure management 2.2
Processing and transport 0.03
Source: FAO
Potential strategy:
development of synergies for adaptation and mitigation to climate change
through improved technologies and production systems

11. LivestockPlus: A New Concept
Meat, milk
& more!
Potential to
mitigate climate
change and other
co-benefits of
forage-based
systems
Source: Peters et al., 2012

12. LivestockPlus
Multifunctional role
of forage-based
production systems
vs.
feedlot based
systems

13. LivestockPlus
Source: Erb et al., 2007
Pasture lands:
• 30-45% of earth’s terrestrial surface • 80% of all agricultural land
• 70% of previously forested land in the • 1/3 arable land used for feed crop
Amazon production

14. LivestockPlus 15 months
Silvopastoral systems:
A mini-revolution in Colombia
and Central America!
Source: CIPAV
October 22, 2008
Piedemonte Llanero, Colombia 13 months
Initial state: July 17, 2007 August 15, 2008

15. LivestockPlus
Benefits from improved pastures on crop production
5
LSD 0.05 = 0.718
Maize grain yield (Mg ha-1)
4
Impact of building
up of an arable
3
layer in low fertility
acid soils to
2
improve maize
grain yields
1
0
Native Maize Introduced
savanna monoculture pasture
Source: Amézquita et al., 2007

16. LivestockPlus
High potential of C sequestration with improved pastures
Source:
Fisher et al., 1996
SOC under pastures of Brachiaria
humidicola alone (Bh) and with
Arachis pintoi (Ap) and native
savanna (NS) on a clay loam Oxisol
on the eastern plains of Colombia
% C (modified Walkley-Black)
180
Source: Castro et al. (unpublished) Improved pasture
Pasto Mejorado
160 Improved pasturedegradado
Pasto mejorado (degraded)
Native Savanna
Sabana Nativa
Almacenamiento ha-1C (t ha-1)
140
120
C stock (t de )
100
C stocks in three predominant
80
60
land-use systems in the eastern
40
plains of Colombia
20
0
(a) Puerto López (b) Puerto Gaitán (c) Average
Promedio

17. LivestockPlus
Potential for reduced N2O, CH4 and CO2 emissions from pasture management
500
450 Source: PNAS 106: 17302-17307 (2009)
Cumulative nitrous oxide 400
-1
mg N2O-Nm-2y-1y
350
emissions from field plots of
-2
mgN2O-N m
300
tropical pasture grasses 250
(monitored monthly from 200
150
2005-2008) 100
50
0
Bare Soil
Bare Soil Soybean
Soybean P.P.maximum Hybrid Mulato Bh 679
maximum Hybrid Mulato Bh 679 Bh 16888
Bh 16888
Option used in 2030 Kg CH4/t milk Kg CH4/t meat
Mitigation options in
rangeland-based humid Cerrado 78 1552
and sub-humid systems in
100% adoption of Brachiaria pasture 31 713
Central and South America
30% adoption of Brachiaria pasture 64 1300
Source: Thornton and Herrero, 2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 107:19667-19672

18. LivestockPlus
Sensitivity analysis in a dairy system (including fattening calves):
effect of changes in key parameters on GHG emissions per unit of animal protein
• 10% increase of feed digestibility = emissions per kg protein reduced by ~15%
• 10% increase of feed digestibility and milk production = emissions per kg protein reduced by ~19%

19. LivestockPlus
Developing country productions systems that are
eco-efficient
B1 scenario
shown, though
the pattern is
similar for all
SRES scenarios
Source: Smith P et al., 2008
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363:789-813

20. LivestockPlus
Grass-legume pastures can mitigate climate change
Integrated Global Warming Potential (GWP) of different
land uses in the savannas of Colombia
5000
Grass- Grass
legume alone
pasture pasture
forest savanna sandy crops
savanna
GWP (kg CO2 equivalents)
-5000
GWP20y GWP100y
-15000
-25000
Source: Rondon et al., 2006

21. Key Messages
• Well-managed tropical forage-based systems supported by good policies and
strong institutions can contribute to improved livelihoods and to the overall
quality of agro-ecosystems and the environment
• LivestockPlus is suggested as a concept for sustainable intensification of
agricultural production to enhance livelihoods and reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions
• Increased adoption of improved feeds, including sown forages, could
significantly reduce GHG on a global scale, while enhancing the livelihoods of
the 1 billion people dependent on livestock-cropping systems
• Improved tropical forages could sequester large amounts of carbon – on a
scale similar to that of forests – with the possibility of reducing emissions of
nitrous oxide and methane per unit of livestock product
• If widely applied, could deliver huge increases in food
production at reduced environmental cost against a background of rising
livestock production and consumption in the developing world.