We present scientific perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global food security. International organizations and current evidence based on other respiratory viruses suggests ...COVID-19 is not a food safety issue, i.e., there is no evidence associating food or food packaging with the transmission of the virus causing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), yet an abundance of precaution for this exposure route seems appropriate. The pandemic, however, has had a dramatic impact on the food system, with direct and indirect consequences on lives and livelihoods of people, plants, and animals. Given the complexity of the system at risk, it is likely that some of these consequences are still to emerge over time. To date, the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic have been substantial including restrictions on agricultural workers, planting, current and future harvests; shifts in agricultural livelihoods and food availability; food safety; plant and animal health and animal welfare; human nutrition and health; along with changes in public policies. All aspects are crucial to food security that would require "One Health" approaches as the concept may be able to manage risks in a cost-effective way with cross-sectoral, coordinated investments in human, environmental, and animal health. Like climate change, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be most acutely felt by the poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities. Ultimately, to prepare for future outbreaks or threats to food systems, we must take into account the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and a "Planetary Health" perspective.
The Livestock CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) Research Program (Livestock CRP) generated evidence on livestock-to-nutrition pathways through the implementation of ...nutrition-related livestock programs and research. In this analysis, we compiled lessons learned from Livestock CRP projects and identified recommendations for nutrition-sensitive livestock programming and research in the context of the literature and through the development of an updated livestock-to-nutrition pathways framework. The updated framework shows the interconnected nature of the three main pathways—own-consumption, income, and women’s empowerment—along with other pathways and includes contextual factors, which were lacking in previous frameworks. Eight Livestock CRP projects were reviewed, including five integrated livestock and human nutrition projects, two studies on drivers of food choice, and one study to develop and test a tool to measure nutrition outcomes among pastoralists. Key lessons learned were that women’s empowerment in livestock-to-nutrition pathways is important, but challenging to measure; engaging male partners improves nutrition in livestock-keeping households; nutrition-sensitive livestock programs and researchers should articulate and measure livestock-to-nutrition pathways they are addressing; livestock keeping does not guarantee access to animal source foods; context and livelihoods are not static and program design should be adapted accordingly; and digital data collection systems can provide accurate and timely nutrition information. Key recommendations include developing tools to fill measurement gaps; creating shorter versions of validated tools for ease of use; using complexity-aware evaluation methods to capture the interconnected nature of livestock-to-nutrition pathways and shifting livelihoods; and conducting pathways analyses to better understand linkages in the framework and further refine it.
Livestock support the livelihoods of one billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but the productivity of animals remains low, reducing the potential of the sector to support higher incomes ...and better nutrition. Improved livestock feeding has been identified as the most important step towards higher productivity. This scoping review assessed the evidence for the uptake of improved ruminant livestock feed options, the effect of this uptake on livestock productivity and the degree to which this improves smallholder farmer livelihoods. In total, 22,981 papers were identified, of which 73 papers were included in the final analysis after a rigorous double-blind screening review. Only papers that reported farmers' decision to use a new feed intervention were selected, thereby excluding feeding trials and participatory feed assessments. Of the 73 papers, only 6 reported combined evidence of adoption, effect on productivity and livelihood changes. A total of 58 papers looked at adoption, 19 at productivity change and 22 at livelihood change. This scoping review highlights the gap in evidence for the adoption of new livestock feeding practices and provides recommendations to support farmers' uptake of feed interventions.
Healthy livestock provide meaningful opportunities to enhance women's empowerment (WE) in low- and middle-income countries. Animal vaccines are important to keep livestock healthy and productive. ...However, gender-based restrictions limit women's access to animal health services, thereby affecting the potential of livestock to enhance their empowerment. While growing empirical evidence reveals that women-controlled livestock (e.g., small ruminants) have important implications for WE and support better household nutrition outcomes, little empirical evidence exists from rigorous analyses of the relationship between WE and animal vaccines for women-controlled livestock species. Our analysis explores the relationship between WE and involvement with PPR vaccination in Ghana. Data collected using the Women's Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI) tool from 465 women and 92 men farmers (who keep goats) from northern Ghana, and analyzed using PLS-SEM, revealed a significant direct positive association between knowledge about animal health and PPR vaccines and a significant indirect positive association between access to PPR vaccines and empowerment. The empowerment of women goat farmers, as revealed by our model's results for the relationship between empowerment and vaccine facets, was significantly represented by asset ownership and input into decisions concerning livestock. These study results reveal important considerations in designing effective and equitable livestock vaccine systems.
There is limited empirical evidence about how youth engage in livestock production in East Africa. The primary objective of this article is to better understand youth engagement in the livestock ...sector, namely commercialization and marketing. We compare youth to non-youth in four areas: livestock asset ownership, access to and use of services and improved practices and lastly, market participation. Our framework draws upon agricultural transformation concepts to suggest a tentative pathway through which livestock can support youth in transitions. We draw upon quantitative data and analyze and compare youth to nonyouth in intensive and extensive livestock systems in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania and investigate four livestock systems, dairy, extensive ruminants, pig, and chicken systems. The results showed that there were no systematic youth-specific trends across the asset ownership, levels of commercialization or market participation. Also, low asset ownership did not generate observable youth specific differences in market participation. Rather, education and improved practices correlate with higher levels of market participation. Exploring how livestock are acquired and implications upon asset-based approaches is recommended to better understand the potential of livestock as a source of income during youth transitions in different livestock systems. More evidence is needed to inform and tailor policy approaches to support equitable opportunities in the livestock sector better. Research into understanding how social factors, including gender, shape youth opportunities and constraints, is needed.
Consumption of animal source foods, through livestock production, improves children's growth and micronutrient status. However, research on the relationship between livestock ownership and childhood ...anemia has produced conflicting results. The current study used robust analytical approaches to examine the effect of household livestock ownership on children's anemia using the most recent secondary data from the national demographic and health survey. We followed a 1:1 closest neighborhood propensity score matching analysis. A propensity score was generated using the binary logistic regression model to compute the probability of owning livestock. From a total of 18,008 households enrolled in the latest Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2016), data of 721 index children aged 6–59 months from households owning livestock were matched with a comparable number (721) of children from households without livestock. The paired and independent t‐test, matched relative risk (RR), and standardized mean differences were used to compare the distributions of hemoglobin concentration and anemia risks between treatment and control groups. Anemia was found in more than half (54.1% and 58.8%) of children aged 6–59 months from livestock‐owning and nonowning families, respectively (p >.05). Aggregate ownership of livestock was not associated with hemoglobin concentration or anemia status (RR = 0.95, 95% confidence interval 95% CI 0.87–1.04). Species‐wise, poultry was associated with a lower (RR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.84–0.95) anemia risk, while ownership of goat/sheep was associated with higher (RR = 1.10, 95% CI 1.03–1.17) risk. In conclusion, ownership of small livestock species (sheep/goats and poultry), but not aggregate livestock ownership, was associated with the risk of anemia among children in Ethiopia. Therefore, agriculture‐sensitive nutrition, with a One Health lens approach, is recommended to mitigate the high burden of anemia among children in Ethiopia. In the future, a well‐controlled interventional study with more extended periods may be required to fully understand the effects of livestock production and highlight the differences seen across livestock species.
Despite the substantial contribution donkeys make to the livelihood of the world's poorest populations, the existence of donkeys has received little notice worldwide. This article reviews the value ...of donkeys in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, construction industry, and mining, as well as their role in empowering women and achieving sustainable development goals. However, donkeys and mules are not given enough credit or attention in terms of developing strategies regarding their role in reducing poverty. There is a dearth of information and statistics on their impact across industries, the factors contributing to the donkey population dropping, the socioeconomic status of the dependent communities, and related animal and human welfare issues.
While the commercialization and diversification of agricultural and livestock systems have been identified as key global strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation, less is known as to ...the large-scale gendered impacts that are implicated in these transformations among smallholder crop and livestock farmers. This study explores these gender impacts across different farming systems and gender-respondent-household typologies using data from the Rural Household Multiple Indicator Survey (RHoMIS) in 2,859 households in three East African countries—Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Female control scores over incomes or foodstuffs produced through both on and off farm activities were highest in farming systems that had more land and more livestock. However, increasing commercialization—defined herein as the increasing importance of crop and livestock sales to farm households—resulted in an overall decline in female control across all farming systems and gender-respondent-household typologies. In contrast, crop and livestock diversification were positively associated with female control across gender-respondent-household typologies. Analysis of specific crops and livestock products across farming systems and respondent typologies revealed women have far greater control over decisions related to consumption than decisions related to sales, although the gap between the two were less pronounced in lesser-valued livestock products (chickens, eggs). However, the analyses suggest that as sale of crops and livestock increase, female control over these areas could likely diminish, regardless of specific activity. The authors conclude that approaches to adapt to or mitigate climate change that rely on increasing market orientation of smallholder production will likely intensify men's control over benefits from production, whereas diversification will likely have a more positive impact on female control. Thus, climate adaptation strategies promoting increased diversification will likely have a more positive impact on women smallholders than commercialization alone. The authors recommend that when commercialization is the target intervention, it must be accompanied by a gender differentiated analysis of trade-offs and risks to mitigate the potential negative consequences shown in this study.
Inadequate and poor-quality feed resources are a key constraining factor in livestock production that compromises the livelihoods of many women and men dependent on livestock, who can be found in ...most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Several forage varieties have been developed, which are targeted to smallholder farmers in developing countries, yet the level of adoption remains low, particularly among women farmers. Adoption of varieties could enhance livelihoods by increasing livestock productivity and also by providing an income from the sale of surplus forage. However, evidence on gendered barriers to and incentives for the adoption of forage varieties is scarce. This study explores the gender dynamics influencing the uptake and commercialization of a forage variety,
Brachiaria
(syn.
Urochloa)
, among women and men farmers in four subcounties in Kenya. Through a mixed-methods approach, 260 individuals (59 women and 201 men) belonging to a household where at least one individual is a member of a dairy cooperative were interviewed. Complementary data from qualitative interviews engaging 16 single-sex focus group discussions (FGDs) and 8 key informant interviews (KIIs) were collected. Results reveal that
Brachiaria
is accessible to both women and men. Dairy cooperatives are important means for women and men to access extension services, useful information, and planting materials, but only a few women are cooperative members. Men face constraints owing to small land areas, rather than the ownership and access problems that constrain women. These challenges privilege men as
de facto
owners of resources while subordinating women and disenfranchising them in terms of adopting this technology. Complex yet important pathways for women’s and men’s empowerment exist through the sale of planting materials, hay bales, and an increased volume of milk obtained when cows are fed with
Brachiaria
. We conclude that cooperative membership for men should be supported, while at the same time gender norms that reduce women’s engagement with cooperatives, and their access to and control over land, should be challenged.
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