Will policy and institutional changes benefit poor people?
As global demand for meat and milk increases, many policies focus on promoting international trade in livestock and livestock products. How does this affect the community-based livestock services that poor people use, and who will benefit from the expanding global markets?
Livestock keepers in Turkana, Kenya. The livelihoods-based approach of Oxfam GB in the region means viewing drought as an expected event and planning for drought with contingencies in long-term development programmes. Michael Wadleigh.
Other articles in this issue:
Enhancing women's access and ownership of livestock
In many developing countries, women provide much of the labour for livestock tasks. Yet their role in livestock production has been undervalued by policymakers and research on this issue widely ignored. More...
Supporting livestock-centred livelihoods
What can NGOs do?
As donors increasingly favour direct budget support to deliver aid programmes, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have an important role to play. They not only support grassroots innovations in the livestock sector, but can also use lessons from these to influence national policies. More...
Veterinary medicine
The slow road to community and private sector participation
Veterinary medicine in developing countries has changed over the last 25 years. Fiscal crisis and structural adjustment in the 1980s meant that highly subsidised, state-led animal health services could not survive. More...
Do higher meat and milk prices adversely affect poor people?
The prices of meats, milk and cereals are expected to increase in the coming decades, dramatically reversing past trends. This is driven by increasing demands for food. Although higher prices can benefit agricultural producers, a larger number of poor consumers will have reduced access to food. More...
Meat and milk
Developing countries and the global livestock trade
The global demand for meat and milk is growing, as populations increase and incomes rise. Retailers and fast food outlets are benefiting but is this growth reducing poverty in developing countries? More...
Commercial destocking
A livelihood-based drought response in southern Ethiopia
The 2006 drought in the Greater Horn of Africa affected 11 million people, including many pastoralists. Drought responses focused primarily on food aid, with inadequate attention given to livelihood protection and support. More...
Is pastoralism a viable livelihood option?
Debates about the future of pastoralism are re-emerging in the Greater Horn of Africa. Are there too many people and too few livestock? Should pastoralists pursue alternative market-based livelihoods, or can better policies help to maintain pastoral systems? More...
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