Livestock in the Food Debate - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 504

in sustaining nutritional security and sustainable development, while explaining the
basis for trenchant critiques in current politics.
Livestock “agriculture”
Agriculture remains the primary source of food production. Mechanization of agricul-
ture and optimization of the production factors (labor, land, and capital) have been able
to respond to the food demands of the burgeoning world population. Increases in grain
and farm animal productivity have contributed to a net increase of global food availabil-
ity per person. According to the World Resources Institute's data and the FAO (2006), the
average food production per capita index 1961-2005 had been steadily rising worldwide,
and, with the exception of Africa, food production growth had been greater than popula-
tion growth. Agriculture will continue to play this role for the foreseeable future and feed
the increasing world population, which is expected to peak at 9.3 billion in 2050 (Evans
2009). Yet, systemic turbulences have shown to increase barriers to access and distribu-
tion of food for the hundreds of millions of vulnerable households in the South and an
increasing number of urban poor in the North, falling victims of recurrent national eco-
nomic crisis. Access to food of animal origin is undergoing changes, presenting different
challenges in terms of agricultural development policies and practices. Projections based
on the continuation of current policies and practices indicate that global demographic
changes and income distribution over the next 50 years will lead to different patterns of
food consumption and increased demand of livestock products. Most of this increase will
take place in the middle-income countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the so-called
BRIC countries (World Bank 2008; Smith 2008; Dijkman 2013).
Through the millennia, livestock rearing and food of animal origin have played
a crucial role in agriculture. Farm animals, despite their relevance for the survival of
almost 2 billion people in the developing world, often miss a key position in the agri-
cultural development debate, whereas the contribution of livestock to global food
security remains underestimated. Livestock as a sector is also often targeted in the
climate-change debate, together with fossil fuel power plants. Although the latter enjoy
government and industry support, farm animals are often scapegoated as a cause of the
ecological collapse generated by dominant models of economic growth.
Livestock is an integral part of agriculture and a prominent source of food. Livestock
contributes 40% of the global value of agricultural output and supports the livelihoods
and food security of almost two billion people (Delgado 2008). Animal products pro-
vide one-third of human protein intake and are a critical component of a balanced diet.
Mainly, liver, egg, and dairy products provide, on average, 61% of Vitamin A (USDA
2008). In the 2000s, in an average Western diet, 63% of the total protein intake, and 27%
of the calories come from animal based sources (meat, eggs, and animal fats) Looking
back at the 1960s, there have been relatively small decreases of these values—3% and 8%,
respectively.1