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Livestock
Continued expected growth and development of the industry will create
additional pressure on Latin America’s ecosystems, biodiversity, and
natural resources.
The industry’s potential to improve the economic welfare of the region could be seriously
hindered by growing concerns over its environmental impact, as well as factors including:
inadequate marketing and transportation infrastructure; lack of access to communication
and information systems to support decision making; lack of investment in livestock research;
persistent outbreaks of animal diseases; and the lack of adequate access to veterinary services.
Facts
* Livestock inventories in lac countries have grown
dramatically over the last decade. lac accounts
for nearly 14% of world inventories of all major
livestock species (cattle, pigs, sheep and goats,
poultry, and dairy cows).
* lac poultry inventories have grown at the blistering
pace of 5.3% annually to register a 35.6%
increase over the last decade. lac now accounts
for 14% of world poultry numbers.
* Brazil accounts for the largest share of all Latin
American livestock numbers, including half of all
beef and dairy cattle and pigs and about 40% of
poultry.
* Remarkable gains in lac meat and milk production
efficiency have contributed to the growth in production
over the last decade with yield increases
in milk, poultry, pork, and beef of 22%, 15%, 14%,
and 7%, respectively, which substantially exceed
those in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Trends
Rapid meat and milk production gains 10
lac meat and milk production has grown at double digit
rates over the last decade, much in excess of the United
States and surpassing world growth rates in all but sheep
meat production (table 1). lac now accounts for a larger
10 International data on livestock and products are notoriously
questionable and highly inconsistent across data sources.
For that reason, to the extent possible, this chapter relies on
data from OECD-FAO 2011 as supplemented by data from the
FAOSTAT (FAO 2012a and 2012b) database for consistency. Data
from USDA (2012) are used when necessary because of lack of
coverage or timeliness of the OECD-FAO or FAOSTAT data.
percentage of world beef, sheep meat, and poultry meat
production than the U.S. and almost the same share of
world milk production (table 1). lac poultry meat production
grew at an amazing 84.8% between 2000 and
2011 and now accounts for 23% of world production.
Brazilian poultry meat production more than doubled
over the last decade so that Brazil now accounts for about
56% of lac production.
Milk production increased by nearly 30% in lac between
2000 and 2011, boosting the region’s production to 81.1
million tonnes, just under the level of production in the
United States (table 1). With the largest number of dairy
cows, Brazil is also the largest milk producing country
in lac. Brazilian milk production increased nearly 30%
over the last decade. About 82% of Brazilian dairy farms
A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean
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