Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
such as leather, frozen meat, and dried milk. Animals kept for commercial and family
use are varied, but the most common are chickens, as shown in Figure 7.4.
Nearly 40 percent of the world fish production enters international trade. The use of
fish in the human diet ranges from 10 percent in Latin America to over 30 percent in
Asia.
2
A significant portion of fish consumed by humans is produced by aquaculture:
“farming of organisms that live in water, such as fish, shellfish, and algae.”
3
The
largest share of this production is in China. Many developing countries are increasing
their production of fish, and for some it is an important source of national revenue. The
primary products traded on the local level are fresh fish, sometimes with little proces-
sing. Products traded on the international market include fresh and processed fish and
fish meal for livestock feed.
4
7.3
ANIMAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Many types of livestock are raised around the world, but most fit within the classification
system developed by FAO shown in Figure 7.5.
5
The first major group is defined as only
livestock production systems. In this system the farm income comes almost entirely from
livestock. Within this system there are landless and grassland-based systems. Landless
systems found in Europe, North America, Asia, and other developed countries account
for 36 percent of the meat produced in the world. In the United States, the large feedlot is
typical of the landless production system. The major species raised in this system are
cattle, chickens, and pigs. This system is capital intensive and larger operations
benefit from economies of scale. The grassland-based livestock system produces only
9 percent of the meat in the world and is found mostly in Central-South America,
North America, Europe, and other developed countries. Examples of this system are
the steppes of Mongolia, New Zealand's sheep systems, and the llama/sheep grazing
systems of the Altiplano in Peru and Bolivia.
Mixed farming systems produce livestock in association with other crop enterprises.
In these systems, livestock produce less than 90 percent of the total value of farm income.
A significant amount of their feed comes from crops raised on the same farm. Over 54
percent of the meat produced in the world comes from this system in countries of Asia,
eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, and other
Figure
7.5.
Livestock production systems.
