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Livestock Services and the Poor: A global initiative - IFAD

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40<br />

Inappropriate livestock<br />

production can have a<br />

negative impact<br />

LIVESTOCK SERVICES AND THE POOR<br />

Box 1.7: Dairy animals <strong>and</strong> poverty reduction among<br />

women, Ganjam district, Orissa<br />

The dairy credit scheme for women analysed in <strong>the</strong> Orissa case study<br />

involved <strong>the</strong> supply of dairy buffaloes among l<strong>and</strong>less women. For many<br />

of <strong>the</strong>se l<strong>and</strong>less households, feeding <strong>and</strong> grazing were a real problem.<br />

In some cases, children dropped out of school to herd <strong>the</strong> buffaloes, <strong>and</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> cost of <strong>the</strong> feeding concentrate was too high to render milk<br />

production profitable. Moreover, <strong>the</strong> advisory service required for feeding<br />

<strong>and</strong> management was deficient. Ninety percent of <strong>the</strong> calves died<br />

because of poor health services <strong>and</strong> lack of proper nutrition. The scheme<br />

left a number of <strong>the</strong> households in debt.<br />

Orissa case study.<br />

poor, especially if <strong>the</strong> intervention is not supported by adequate<br />

skills development <strong>and</strong> advisory services. Economic sustainability<br />

must be well considered, since it represents a serious risk for poor<br />

livestock keepers.<br />

An analysis of World Bank projects corroborated this scenario<br />

(de Haan et al., 2001).<br />

“The livestock portfolio analysis shows that our current World<br />

Bank operations still lack a specific poverty <strong>and</strong> environmental<br />

focus. This lack of focus is shown by <strong>the</strong> low level of investment<br />

in <strong>the</strong> poorest regions of <strong>the</strong> world (Central Asia, South Asia <strong>and</strong><br />

sub-Saharan Africa), in pastoral development <strong>and</strong> in small stock,<br />

<strong>and</strong>, to some extent, in <strong>the</strong> low share of investments to improve<br />

animal health <strong>and</strong> nutrition, which are critical constraints faced<br />

by <strong>the</strong> poor.”<br />

De Haan et al. (2001) fur<strong>the</strong>r note that, since <strong>the</strong> 1970s, <strong>the</strong>re<br />

has been a decline in <strong>the</strong> support for livestock projects by <strong>the</strong><br />

World Bank. Only six active agricultural projects are aimed at<br />

livestock only, <strong>and</strong> about 50 projects – of a total agricultural<br />

portfolio of 270 projects – have livestock components. The<br />

decrease in lending is partially a response to <strong>the</strong> poor performance<br />

of projects during <strong>the</strong> seventies <strong>and</strong> eighties. It is apparent that

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