The livestock sector must “transform” along with other elements of global agri-food systems to be more efficient, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has warned today (Tuesday, November 14).
The FAO, which is hosting a two day Global Forum for Animal Feed and Feed Regulators in Rome, said that demand for animal protein, particularly poultry and pork, is increasing primarily due to “population growth, urbanisation and improved purchasing power”.
However, it cautioned that this demand needs to be balanced with environmental concerns, socio-economic considerations and “an array of safety issues affecting both animals and humans”.
According to the FAO it is also important to ensure the availability, accessibility, quality and safety of animal feed.
It believes in order to achieve this, that there needs to be “management and restoration of grasslands and pastures to the production of fodder and feed ingredients, and the processing and use of compound feed”.
The FAO has estimated that 40% of global arable land is currently used to feed livestock and there is a major opportunity to improve the sustainability of agri-food systems by optimising land use.
The director general of the FAO said livestock feed value chains “vary enormously” around the world.
Feed typically constitutes between 60% and 80% of livestock production costs.
Globally, commercial production or sale of feed takes place in more than 130 countries and some 8,000 plants produce more than 600 million tonnes of feed annually. Another 300 million comes from on-farm production.
FAO
According to the FAO improving feeding with balanced rations and the efficient use of locally-available feed resources can significantly boost profitability for farmers.
“Feeding animals well will feed the world better,” Qu told the audience of international experts, government officials, researchers and industry leaders at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
But the conference also focused on the role of animal nutrition and feed safety, alternative and advanced feed practices to reduce the need for antimicrobials.
“Ensuring adequate animal nutrition reduces the need for antimicrobials, thus contributing to contain Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR),” the FAO outlined.
The World AMR Awareness Week takes place next week (November 18-24) to raise awareness and understanding of AMR.