People Livestock and the Environment

As world population increases in tandem with our demands, the land on which we depend to feed ourselves remains constant and in many areas, rain is decreasing. Livestock are central to the livelihoods of some one billion of the world’s poorest people, some of who sell livestock products, trade in manure, get jobs in the dairy industry, to mention but a few. Livestock also provide nourishing foods for poor households in urban as well as rural areas. A major challenge is to meet that demand using the same resource base without depleting the environment.
 
The People, Livestock and Environment group conducts research focusing on enhancing better quality feed for livestock, improved crops that serve as food for humans and feed for livestock as well as better methods of livestock feeding. The better quality and methods should maintain or improve the quality of the environment.
 
In many developing countries, smallholders in mixed crop livestock systems provide most livestock products. This is set to change in the future as many rapidly evolving challenges such as biofuel competition for biomass, rapidly rising prices of feeds and livestock products and impacts of climate change increase. There will be need to address the role of small holders in changing market circumstances and to manage environmental goods and services in ways that ensure sustainable production of feed.
 
Our research will provide information that guides choices about intensifying livestock production in crop livestock systems and in provision of incentives for producers. Human population density and climate change both undermine the resilience of these environments, deepen the vulnerability of livestock keepers and impact on the availability of the ecosystem services on which they depend. Our research will emphasize the potential of such systems to provide a range of environmental goods and services beyond livestock productivity.
 
This research focuses on delivering largely technical and biophysical elements but is closely linked to broader and more dominant contextual, institutional and policy issues addressed through the research of others within or outside of ILRI.
 
Benefits to partners and the community: 
The benefits of our research to our partners and the community will include providing guidelines towards sustainable feed options that enhance livestock production. These will promote the transition of smallholder crop livestock farmers to improved livelihoods through market participation without environmental damage. We also seek to provide options for reduced vulnerability and improved livelihoods in pastoral systems through better management of risk and improved adaptive capacity. Finally, we anticipate forage diversity that is safe, healthy and available to contribute to new demands from changing livestock systems.