Livestock Services and the Poor: A global initiative - IFAD

E XECUTIVE SUMMARY
delivery of services that respond to their needs and meet required quality
standards. However, the reality is that public sector involvement has often led
to top-down, undemocratic and non-inclusive organizations and that poor
livestock keepers are usually not members or have only little influence in
these organizations. There are many problems and constraints attached to
the weak position that the poor hold in terms of rights, education, knowledge
and political influence.
It is therefore essential to build the capacity of organizations that include
poor livestock keepers and are genuinely established from the ‘bottom up’.
The development of livestock advisory services is urgently needed
Livestock advisory services such as the supply of information on fodder
production, the delivery of low-cost technologies and the development of
husbandry and management skills are a major need of poor livestock
keepers. These services have received limited attention in the past. The
concept of livestock advisory services for the poor must therefore be
shaped almost from scratch. A focus on knowledge and learning systems
that strengthen the capacity of livestock keepers to seek and organize
information, training and advice from efficient sources should be central to
these advisory services. Farmer-to-farmer systems and integrated croplivestock
systems need to be tested. These can provide an opportunity to
combine development and recent, new initiatives within relevant agricultural
extension services.
Equitable access to scarce land and water resources must be ensured
The existence of equitable access to land and water resources and secure
land-use systems that are also appropriate for pastoral livestock systems is
a determining factor in the future prospects of many poor livestock
keepers. The increasing scarcity of land and water has wide implications in
terms of the prioritization of livestock production systems in various places
and among groups of poor people. The development of production and
farming systems that rely on fodder production or use alternative resources
and also take into consideration the labour and land constraints on poor
farmers is an important intervention.
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