cgiar research program on livestock and fish, value for money

Key contacts Tom Randolph: [email protected] h4p://livestockfish.cgiar.org

Livestock and fish value for money proposition ‘More meat, milk and fish by and for the poor’

Research proposi0on •  Our whole value chain approach is intended to help us be4er understand technology

development opportuni@es and how to encourage uptake and sustainability •  We see animal product value chains as a way to encourage intensifica@on and

professionaliza@on at farm and market levels •  Our integrated food systems approach allows be4er understanding of the role of

animal-‐source foods as a broad food-‐based interven@on to improve diet diversity •  Our systems approach allows us to assess impacts of livestock/aquaculture value

chain development on the environment and locate entry points to mi@gate nega@ve impacts

•  Our gender strategy focuses on how poor women, men and marginalized groups can have improved and more equitable access to affordable animal source foods through gender equitable interven@ons

Theory of change

Meat, milk and fish are cri@cal to poor people as food and income. They provide cri@cal inputs in the people’s diets, especially those who are malnourished. The challenge is to ensure the poor can have be4er access to enough and affordable animal-‐source foods as popula@ons increase, resources for producing them become more constrained and demand for these foods rises. Part of the solu@on will come from increased produc@vity in the small-‐scale produc@on and marke@ng systems that many poor rely on for their animal-‐source foods. We iden@fy opportuni@es to improve and transform these systems to be4er meet the needs of the poor. Key elements of our approach are: •  A whole value chain approach including producers, input providers, traders,

processors, consumers •  A focus on a few selected livestock and fish value chains with poten@al for pro-‐poor

transforma@on to demonstrate impact •  Working with development partners to use research to design integrated

interven@ons and generate evidence of their benefits for taking to scale •  Basic and adap@ve research on feeds, gene@cs, animal and public health, gender, and

targe@ng priori@zed by the needs of the target value chain

Partners Partnership is a key element of the program’s theory of change – essen@al to achieve impact at scale in the target value chains. The program is led by the Interna@onal Livestock Research Ins@tute (ILRI). CGIAR partners are WorldFish with a mandate on aquaculture; the Interna@onal Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), which works on forages; and the Interna@onal Center for Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), which works on small ruminants.

This document is licensed for use under a Crea@ve Commons A4ribu@on – Non commercial – Share Alike 3.0 Unported License, October 2013

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food secure future

Lessons •  Uptake of individual technologies to improve produc@vity is difficult in pre-‐

commercial systems (hence we also work with small and medium sized producers) •  Is impact best achieved by targe@ng poor producers and farmers exclusively or by

also targe@ng successful entrepreneurial farmers who can hire others and realize income opportuni@es along the whole value chain?

•  Evidence needed to show whether animal-‐source foods produced by smallholders can be made more assessable/affordable to the poor and improve diets

•  Addressing the lack of basic data to inform research investment and policy must be part of the agenda

Results •  Fish gene@c improvement, dairy hub development and livestock vaccines

significantly increase produc@vity and produc@on •  Breakthroughs in breeding for super-‐greenhouse gas-‐suppressing forages •  Mixed evidence of improved dairy incomes in East Africa; role of pig produc@on for

the poor, especially women, in Uganda, and similarly for small ruminants in Ethiopia •  Qualita@ve evidence of posi@ve benefits of dairying in East Africa; be4er

understanding and strategies to improve food safety in informal markets •  Aquaculture needs to focus not only on improved strains, but also on pond

management, including feeds and on nutrient content of farmed fish

Gender Gender Strategy approved in June 2013; Tools developed to increase women’s access to and control of inputs in value chains; Training workshops with partners in four value chain countries; Gender scien@sts hired for two value chain countries; Publica@ons and manuals on gender transforma@ve approaches

Opportuni0es •  Growing poten@al for vaccine development as well as gene@c tools and methods

for smarter breeding to achieve breakthroughs •  Evalua@on of organiza@onal strategies for farmers/markets (e.g. hubs) to

understand principles that s@mulate pro-‐poor value chain development •  Be4er understand and target animal-‐source food systems as nutri@on and health

interven@ons for the poor and vulnerable, notably women and children •  Develop environmental impact assessment methods for value chains as well as

decision support tools to assess and design for environmental trade-‐offs

Focus

We work in a few value chains: smallholder dairy systems (Tanzania, India, Nicaragua), sheep and goat systems (West Africa, Ethiopia), smallholder pig systems (Uganda, Vietnam) and aquaculture systems (Egypt, Bangladesh). Our research focuses on the constraints met in these value chains.

cgiar research program on livestock and fish, value for money

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