Center for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa
Role of Livestock in Smallholder Adaptation
and Climate Smart Agriculture
Baitsi Podisi
[email protected]
Cape Town Training Workshop
Premier Hotel Cape Manor 10 Oct, 2016
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Presentation Outline
• Role of Livestock in Climate Change
• Role of Livestock in Providing Resilience
• Options of Adaptation and Mitigation
• Exchange of personal experiences
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Background on Importance of Livestock
Livestock contribute to the regional economy
Majority of farmers in the region are s/holders
Region is affected by climate change
Smallholders are most vulnerable due to
resources constraints
• Smallholders mainly produce from grazing
systems which are open to challenges
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Effect of Climate Change on Fisheries
• 3 billion people rely on fish as their major source of protein
• Climate change is major cause for decline of marine spp.
• Increasing Earth’s atmosphere increases air temperature,
oceans absorb some of this heat and become warmer
• Ocean acidification due to high carbon dioxide, diminishing
their stock of marine organisms and destroys their habitat.
• Fish stock diminish or move to different areas, affecting local
fishing communities.
• Extreme weather damages coastal ecosystems and habitat
• Rising sea levels affects breeding of many commercial fish spp.
(WWF, 2015)
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Livestock Sector Emissions
-2006, FAO published Livestock’s long shadow showing
impact of livestock on the environment
Beef (41%), cattle milk (20%), pig meat (9) and
poultry (8%) account for the sector’s emissions.
-Feed production & processing (45%), and ruminants
(35%) two main sources
-Manure storage and processing (10 %)
-Pasture & feed crops expansion into forests (9 %)
- Sector’s fossil fuel Consumption (20%) (FAO, 2013)
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Climate related Challenges
Over the past decades more than 75% of
emerging diseases affecting humans originated
in livestock and wildlife.
Nearly 70% of the world’s 1.4 billion extremely
poor people depend on livestock.
(FAO, 2016)
Livestock keeping uses marginal areas
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Agric Sector is Most Affected By Climate Change
• In 2014, 87% of natural disasters were climate related.
• Between 2003 and 2013, FAO estimated that 22% of
damages caused by natural hazards and disasters in
developing countries affected agriculture, increasing to
25% for climate-related disasters.
• Agriculture is the sector most affected by drought,
absorbing about 84% of the economic impact.
FAO (2016)
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Climate change could change distribution of vectorborne livestock diseases
Climate change will also directly impact animals through
increased heat stress, changes in water availability (with
droughts affecting livestock in particular) and a greater range
of livestock diseases and disease carriers
Climate change could affect the distribution of vector-borne
livestock diseases as a result of shifts in the geographical
ranges of ticks, mosquitoes, flies and other vectors for diseases
such as East Coast fever, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and
trypanosomiasis
(Thornton et al. 2009; Thornton and Cramer 2012)
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Adapted Breeds Offer Resilience
• almost 100 breeds have gone extinct between 2000
and 2014 and 17% of farm animal breeds are at risk
of extinction (FAO, 2016).
• Indiscriminate cross-breeding while neglecting
environmental adaptation is a threat to livestock
diversity.
• Other threats include (i) introduction of non-native
breeds, weak policies and institutions, the lack of
profitability and competitiveness of traditional
breeds, production system intensification, and poor
disease management.
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Hardy Indigenous Breeds offer Resilience
• Indigenous breeds are hardy and can
withstand challenges of disease and feed
shortage
• Majority of indigenous breeds are unimproved
and therefore viewed as inefficient
• Indigenous breeds are in the kept by resource
poor farmers
• Their use in breeding programmes provides
options to withstand stressful environments
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CSA practices and technologies for
livestock systems
• Improved animal and herd management (Vaccination & good animal
health practices)
• Grazing management (avoid over stocking)
• Adjust stocking rates to feed availability, Rotational grazing , species
combination
• Pasture management (improved pastures, dolichos lablab)
• Agroforestry practices (Leucaena leucocephala)
• Supplementary feeding (efficient feeds) Feed efficiency: ration, Feed
additives (ionophores)
• Provide housing (against weather elements)
• Early warning systems
• Weather indexed insurance
• Mixed crop –livestock farming
Options for Climate Smart Practices
• Improve manure handling to ensure the recovery and
recycling of nutrients and energy contained in manure, its
storage and application techniques
• Biogas production (anaerobic digestion of manure)
• Production shifts (from cattle to more small ruminants,
intensification to chickens, pigs)
• Breeding for climate adaptation; Use of adapted
landraces, germplasm conservation
• Improve reproductive efficiency
• Propagation of supportive policy environment (incentives
for new practices)
• Reduced consumption is effective way of cutting GHG
from animal production
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Practices which have Mitigation Potential
• Technologies such as feeding additives, vaccines
and genetic selection methods have potential to
reduce emission
• Feed quality improvement-enhance digestibility
(urea treatment, drying, grinding and pelleting)
and use of improved forages such as mixes
including legumes
• Supportive policies, adequate institutional and
incentive frameworks and more pro-active
governance are needed to fulfil the sector’s
mitigation potential
(FAO, 2013)
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Other Important Interventions
• Awareness-raising and extension outreach are
important first steps towards the adoption of
better technologies and practices.
• Investments in communication activities,
demonstration farms, farmer field schools, farmer
networks and training programmes (FAO, 2013)
• Promotion of aquaculture, reduction of post
harvest losses.
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Conclusions
• Livestock offer options for land use in marginal
areas and offer resilience in arid areas.
• Provide efficient feeds/ diets and manage manure
• Improving productivity of breeds and efficiency of
use of feed resources provides mitigation options
• Breed productive and adapted animals
• Improve management of grazing and over sow
pastures with improved varieties & agroforestry spp
• Enabling environment needed to for smallholders
to adopt efficient approaches and technologies.
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Thank you!!
www.ccardesa.org
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