Livestock Services and the Poor: A global initiative - IFAD

Integration with
agricultural services
would address needs in
preventive health care
and nutrition and the
scarcity of fodder
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LIVESTOCK SERVICES AND THE POOR
The development
of business skills is
important
Agricultural
extension services are
being reformed
The Neuchâtel
Initiative promotes
demand-driven
advisory services and
a poverty focus
Agricultural and livestock services can be integrated
Because most actual and potential poor livestock keepers raise
some crops, the challenge is to develop a system that joins the
‘public good’ components of animal health services and crop and
livestock production advisory services into one integrated
advisory system. As long as there are adequate advisors available
who are competent in livestock production, integration could
properly address the problems of preventive health care,
nutrition and the scarcity of fodder resources in areas where
mixed farming dominates.
Another aspect of importance is the development of business
skills. This is often a neglected area, and a new concept of
advisory services must build much more knowledge and
awareness of the economic dimensions of production systems to
make sure that the poor can profit from livestock activities.
Agricultural advisory services are, however, also in the initial
stages of a development process. The widespread system of
agricultural training-and-visit extension services provided by
government extension institutions has in most cases proved
inefficient and unsustainable. A recent evaluation by IFAD
(IFAD, 2001) found that the technology messages were not
appropriate for poor farmers and that most extension
institutions neither targeted, nor reached poor farmers.
Agricultural extension services are therefore currently
undergoing extensive reforms in many developing countries,
and multiple approaches with a strong focus on communities
and the demands and initiatives of the farmers themselves are
emerging.
A group of international donor organizations involved in
agricultural development and extension – the Neuchâtel
Initiative – has been raising an interesting debate on the
promotion and organization of agricultural advisory systems
as tools in rural development. The initiative offers interesting
opportunities for the development of demand-driven advisory
services and information systems. A recent study looked at
the possibilities for a greater focus on poverty (Christoplos
et al., 2002).