The World Economic Forum White Paper “Meat: the Future” of January 2018 argued that it is “time for a protein portfolio to meet tomorrow’s demand”. Providing for the world’s 21st‑century protein needs safely and in environmentally sustainable and broadly affordable ways will be a challenge, particularly with a changing, more erratic climate and diminishing natural resources. Already, about 821 million people are undernourished and 151 million children under the age of five are stunted in size. The vast majority of undernourished people lack sufficient quantities of the proteins and micronutrients readily available in nutrient‑dense animal‑sourced foods – meat, milk/dairy, fish and eggs – to lead healthy and productive lives.
Globally, transforming food systems to meet demand in inclusive, sustainable, healthy, nutritious and efficient ways is recognized as one of the world’s biggest challenges. Opportunities to apply the latest physical, scientific and digital innovations to tackle this challenge are being explored. Strikingly, something as fundamental to human existence as food has yet to fully exploit and benefit from the latest digital, physical and scientific technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.5 The January 2018 “Meat: the Future” paper laid out a portfolio of solutions to meet these challenges, including alternative proteins, advances in current production systems and changes in consumer behaviour. This January 2019 paper explores production systems further, recognizing the many challenges and opportunities from the perspective of the livestock sector in developing and emerging economies, where the need and the potential to transform this aspect of the food system are vast.
The livestock sector can play instrumental roles in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, given the many multiplier effects of livestock production systems in low‑ and middle‑income countries. In these nations, livestock remain the mainstay of household economies, food and livelihoods, especially in rural areas. Livestock contribute to all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)6 and make significant and direct contributions to eight SDGs, in particular the first three. This paper makes the case for seizing big opportunities to get this job done through the developing world’s small‑ and medium‑scale livestock sector – namely, to help feed the world sustainably, safely and equitably.
The livestock sector accommodates huge diversity, and all livestock production systems in all regions need to become safer and more sustainable, responsible and efficient. While the rapid growth in livestock production occurring now in emerging and developing nations is unlikely to end in the short term, it can be harnessed to greatly enhance rather than harm human and environmental well‑being.
Consider the diversity of livestock keepers: they include smallholder mixed farmer, medium‑sized cooperative member, pastoral herder, female head of household, traditional villager and urban entrepreneur, as well as millions of people engaged in trading and processing livestock foods or providing inputs and services to the sector. Or consider the variety of animal husbandry practices: from massive dairies in China to medium‑sized enterprises raising a few hundred pigs in the emerging economies of Asia, to family farms raising one or two cows and a handful of goats and chickens in Africa. With such huge diversity, many different roads to sustainable livestock production will be needed, each with its opportunities and challenges, starting at different points and taking different trajectories. No one solution will lead to the better livestock systems required and desired.
Focused on developing and emerging economies, this paper reviews the different ways of meeting the growing future protein needs and the consequences and opportunities of different future trajectories. The starting point and primary focus for this assessment is the livestock sector, given the prevalence and multiplier effects already mentioned.