Livestock in the Food Debate - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 503

Chapter 20
Livestock in the
Food Debate
Purvi Mehta-Bhatt and Pier Paolo
Ficarelli
Introduction
Spikes in world food prices since 2007-2008, combined with the global financial crisis
generated deep concern, as well as social and political unrest, in both the Global South and
in the North (Torero 2011). Anxiety concerning 2012 was significant in this context, and
unlikely to go away. The World Bank's Food Price Index, which tracks the price of interna-
tionally traded food commodities, estimated a 7% leap in global food prices in comparison
to the previous year, consolidating the threat of increased hunger for the planet's poorest
(Wroughton 2012). Food prices hit international headlines again and again.
Food, climatic and economic turbulences have signalled the beginning of a seemingly
irreversible trend of global instability, which will affect livelihoods of the weakest mem-
bers of many societies. The most affected by this turmoil are the 1.3 billion poor, living in
fragile nations, developing economies, and in remote areas of Africa and Asia. Ensuring
global food security is not only a political priority for the public sector, but above all the
most basic human right.
The means to these universally endorsed ends, however, are subjects of considerable
controversy. Despite the importance of livestock to mixed farming strategies of small-
holders and to pastoralists who are among the most vulnerable of the world's poor, polit-
ical conflict and policy indifference threaten this vital sector. Pressing questions posed
by politicians, stirred by the public concerns on food safety and animal welfare in the
last 10 years challenge the raising of animals for human use. More recently, climate sci-
entists have demonstrated concern for livestock emissions as one of the major drivers of
global warming. These political, ethical, and policy concerns are influencing and often
limiting support to the global livestock sector by development agencies. The vocal con-
cerns of the overfed are silencing the feebler voices of the undernourished. We seek in
this chapter to explain the role of livestock in supporting and supplementing agriculture