Positioning livestock industry for food security, job creation
Livestock contribute one-third of the protein needs of most people.
Livestock form an integral part of smallholder, urban and peri-urban farming systems in most developing economies. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), in many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, livestock contributes almost 40 per cent of agricultural gross domestic product, and in some countries the contribution surpasses 85 per cent.
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The rearing of livestock plays an important role in enabling smallholders to have resilient livelihoods and avoiding both food insecurity and poverty, as livestock can contribute up to 33 per cent of household income. Overall, 75 per cent of rural people and 25 per cent of urban people depend on livestock for their livelihoods.
Livestock as food
Livestock are important to the food security of millions of people today and will be important to the food security of millions more in the coming decades.
Under-nutrition remains a persistent problem in many developing countries with estimates ranging between 900 million and one billion people, while food safety is a critical element to ensure that the benefits of the food contribute to a healthy diet.
Food from animal origin provides high-quality protein and a variety of micronutrients that are difficult to obtain in adequate quantities from foods of plant origin alone.
Animal source food provides 15 per cent of total food energy and 25 per cent total dietary protein. Most significantly, the biological value of animal source protein is 1.4 times more than plant foods.
Essential amino acids and micro-nutrients are more bioavailable from food from animal origin than from plant origin.
In spite of all these, the contribution of the livestock sub-sector to the overall agriculture and subsequently to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most developing countries, including Ghana leaves much to be desired.
Ghana is one of the countries with the lowest per capita meat consumption, hence the need to increase meat production to fill the gap. The insufficient animal protein supply is brought about by low productivity of the livestock species available, low investment in the livestock sector, diseases, poor housing and other infrastructural gaps.
It is against this background that the government of Ghana launched a policy initiative dubbed “rearing for food and jobs”. This policy is aimed at increasing animal production through:
• breed improvement
• productivity and production
• development of livestock infrastructure (housing, plant, equipment, slaughtering, processing and marketing facilities)
• feed production and conservation of forage
• animal health and disease control
• development of communal grazing lands
• commercialisation of livestock production and entrepreneurship development
• application of e-agriculture in livestock production
The conference
As a way of contributing to the realisation of this vision, the Ghana Society of Animal Production (GSAP), Ghana Animal Science Association (GASA) and the Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, with support from International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), African Union Inter-Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the European Union (EU), are collaborating to host the All African Conference on Animal Agriculture (AACAA, 2019) on the theme: “Innovations to Harness the Potential of African Animal Agriculture in a Globalising World” to drum home the importance of animal agriculture.
The AACAA 2019 is, therefore, timely and opportune as efforts are being made to revive the animal agriculture industry.
The AACAA is held every four years and the hosting right is rotated among the countries in Africa. Ghana is fortunate to be the first West African country to host the 7th quadrennial event.
The conference is expecting about 500 local and international participants made up of government officials, animal scientists, farmers, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) involved in livestock, international organisations, financial institutions, etc.
With a focus on animal agriculture (including aquaculture), the 7th AACAA 2019 will provide opportunities for researchers, policy makers, farmers, development partners and other stakeholders in the animal industry in Africa to discuss the current, as well as emerging opportunities and challenges in the industry and suggest potential solutions.
The conference will also examine how the continent’s animal agriculture can increase its private sector engagement – through public-private sector partnerships.
In this context, the conference will examine ways to leverage private sector investments through strategic national, bilateral and multilateral financing of livestock and fisheries/aquaculture research and development that also target youth and women – whose engagement represents one of the major unexploited opportunities for the continent.
It is expected that at the end of the four-day conference, there will be public recognition and empowerment for all practitioners in the animal industry in Ghana; greater visibility for animal agriculture in Ghana and beyond; opening up of opportunities in the livestock value chain in the country; recognition of livestock industry as an engine for job creation through the rearing for food and jobs policy; opening up of opportunities for local livestock farmers to international organisation for partnerships and collaboration; and linking up the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and especially the livestock sub-sector to the various development partners, international organisations and donor agencies which are associated with this all-important conference.
The livestock industry, if properly harnessed, can serve as a channel for job creation for the teeming unemployed youth in the country. The industry or sub-sector can employ thousands of people in the following areas:
• Keeping of the animals - production (livestock farming)
• Drug manufacturing (vaccines, antibiotics, dewormers, acaricides, etc).
• Extension services (personnel to train and offer technical advice on livestock)
• Feed manufacturing and supply (provision of grass/pasture/fodder, household waste as feed, farm waste, etc.)
• Drugs supply (wholesaling and retailing of drugs)
• Provision of marketing services for livestock and animal-related products
• Processing of livestock and livestock products (cold store, khebab, egg frying, etc.)
• Provision of slaughtering services (slaughter house/abattoir, butchers, etc.)
• Implements, tools and equipment manufacturing and supply (wholesaling and retailing of livestock inputs)
• Financing (banks and other financial institutions giving loans to livestock farmers)
• Research (scientists involved in research; nutritionists, breeders, etc.)
• Provision of transportation services
• Veterinary services (provision of preventive and curative animal health care)
• Construction of livestock structures and equipment (pens, storage structures, hutches, etc.)
• Job creation in the management of solid and liquid waste from animals
These and many more are the various opportunities which are available in the livestock industry. Should the industry be developed, a lot of the teeming youth roaming the streets and unemployed Agriculture students from the various universities and agricultural colleges could take advantage of these and get employed.
As an animal scientist, I believe the government can take advantage of the rearing for food and jobs to open up more opportunities in the livestock sub-sector so that more investment can be channelled into the area.
The writer is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Animal Science,
University of Cape Coast
Secretary, Ghana Society of Animal Production [email protected] +233-243253220
