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Agriculture for Development Special issue on Livestock in Development Livestock goods and bads Sustainable livestock development The deadly gifts of livestock – zoonoses Livestock and climate change Global warming – should we worry? No. 17 Winter 2012 Soil complexity and arsenic mitigation Notes for Authors The editors welcome the submission of articles for publication that are directly related to the aims and objectives of the Association. These may be short communications relating to recent developments and other newsworthy items, letters to the editor, especially those relating to previous publications in the journal, and longer papers. It is also our policy to publish papers presented at our meetings. Papers should be written in a concise, direct style and should not normally exceed 2000 words. An abstract (summary) is not required, but a short introductory paragraph is useful. A few key references may be quoted but these should be kept to a minimum. Tables, graphs, and photographs may take a further ½ page plus, but we try to keep the total length of each paper to 3 pages of the Journal. Photographs are more than welcome as they add considerably to the appearance of the contents of the Journal. We prefer good quality originals in colour or black and white, or digital if the quality is excellent. A short biographical note about the author(s) should be put at the end of the paper. If still working, your position, contact address, email, phone number. If retired, your previous job (e.g. formerly Professor of Agriculture, ABC University). See recent editions of the Journal for examples of published material. Would you please write your paper ready for editing and publication as a MS Word document. No lecture notes or PowerPoint presentations, please. If the paper is a presentation from a TAA meeting, please let us have this as soon as possible afterwards so that there is no last minute rush in trying to meet the next publication deadline. Send submissions via e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] preferably in an attached file. Cover photograph: Livestock can be complementary to soil and water conservation and so become part of a sustainable production strategy. Here a Bolivian smallholder feeds his cattle a grass/legume mixture grown as a protective live contour barrier. (Brian Sims) Special issue on Livestock in Development with Guest Editor Czech Conroy The TAA is a professional association of individuals and Contents corporate bodies concerned with 2 Guest Editorial |Livestock in Development | Czech Conroy the role of agriculture for 4 Article 1 development throughout the world. TAA brings together 4 The goods and bads of livestock for development | Maggie Gill individuals and organisations 7News from the Field 1 from both developed and less- 7 The eradication of Rinderpest | Czech Conroy developed countries to enable 8 Article 2 them to contribute to international 8 Sustainable livestock development | Annie McLeod policies and actions aimed at 11 News from the Field 2 reducing poverty and improving 11 An innovative approach to livestock service delivery in rural Africa | Christie Peacock livelihoods. Its mission is to 13 Newsflash 1 encourage the efficient and 13 FAO’s global agenda for action for sustainable livestock sector development sustainable use of local resources and technologies, to arrest and | Czech Conroy reverse the degradation of the 13 Newsflash 2 natural resources base on which 13 Call for trustees from Bees for Development agriculture depends and, by 14 Article 3 raising the productivity of both 14 The deadly gifts of livestock - zoonoses | Delia Grace agriculture and related enterprises, 17 News from the Field 3 to increase family incomes and 17 Donkey welfare overseas from the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon commercial investment in the | George Taylor-Hunt rural sector. Particular emphasis is given to rural areas in the 17 Article 4 tropics and subtropics and to 24 Livestock and climate change – impacts and adaptation | John Morton countries with less-developed 20 News from the Field 4 economies in temperate areas. 20 The Africa Agricultural Network TAA recognizes the interrelated 21 International Agricultural Research News roles of farmers and other 21 | Geoff Hawtin stakeholders living in rural areas, 23 Bookstack scientists (agriculturists, 23 Livestock sector development for poverty reduction: An economic and policy economists, sociologists, etc.), government and the private perspective - livestock’s many virtues | FAO; Organic Production | sector in achieving a convergent Robert Blair; The Landgrabbers | Fred Pearce; Plant evolution and the origin of approach to rural development. crop species | J.F. Hancock; Productivity growth in agriculture | Fuglie et al (eds) This includes recognition of the 26 Article 5 importance of the role of women, 26 Global warming (part 2) – should we worry? | Hereward Corley the effect of AIDS and other 30 Mailbox social and cultural issues on the 30 Appreciation for Ag4Dev No 16; The Africa Agricultural Network rural economy and livelihoods. 31 Article 6 Publications and 31 Soil complexity and arsenic mitigation | Hugh Brammer Communications Committee 35 TAA Forum Paul Harding (Chair and 35 P&C Committee Report; Membership Secretary Report; Obituaries: William (Bill) Coordinating Editor Ag4Dev) Bradfield; Ted Wilmot; Andrew MacDonald Jim Waller (Technical Editor) 38 TAAF News Brian Sims (Acting Technical 38 Rachael Taylor (Ghana); Viresh Patel (India); Richard Bliault (Kenya); Francesca Editor) Fernandez (Philippines); Ben Robinson (Papua New Guinea); Katie Sainsbury Amir Kassam Geoff Hawtin (Tanzania) Garry Robertson 41 Corporate Members’ Page Hugh Brammer 41 Farm Africa; the Natural Resources Institute Alastair Stewart 43 Upcoming Events Hugh Bagnall-Oakeley 43 The TAA AGM, Ralph Melville Memorial Lecture & Reunion; Bledisloe Memorial Keith Virgo (Webmaster) Lecture; Next steps for Common Agricultural Policy reform; 3rd International contact: Conference on Conservation Agriculture in Southeast Asia; TAA South West Branch [email protected] Annual General Meeting 2013; CCF Annual Symposium; Land use: food security [email protected] and the Green Food project; International Conference on “Threats to Land and Tel: 01298 27957 Water Resources in the 21st Century: Prevention, Mitigation and Restoration” ISSN 1759-0604 (Print) 45 Calls for Technical Editor and Guest Editors 46 TAA Executive Committee 1 Editorial Guest Editorial Livestock in Development Czech Conroy is a consultant socio-economist based in London. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, where previously he worked full-time for 17 years and was Reader in Rural Livelihoods. His specialisms include: livestock research and development and, more generally, pro-poor agricultural research, innovation and development; and sustainable livelihoods approaches to rural development. Prior to working at NRI, he was at the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Aga Khan Foundation (UK). He is the author of Participatory Livestock Research: a Guide, Practical Action, 2005. The Editors are grateful to Czech Conroy for his efforts in Guest Editing this special issue on Livestock in Development. In recent years, international livestock controversy relates to the implica- there has been a burgeoning development has been associated tions of livestock development for demand for livestock products, with controversy. In fact, there isn’t human nutrition. On the one hand, livestock development has been just one controversy but several, some people in industrialised countries advocated as a tool for poverty relating, among other things, to the have been arguing that livestock are alleviation. However, the reality is environment, human nutrition and inefficient converters of biomass, so that livestock development has been health, and poverty alleviation. it would be beneficial if we reduced largely characterised by increasing consumption of livestock products intensification and scale of production, Environment. The environmental and if food grains hitherto fed to and it has tended to bypass poor dimensions of livestock development cattle were directly consumed by livestock-keepers. (For further have received a lot of attention during humans. On the other hand, a large information on this issue, see the the last few years, particularly since proportion of the world’s poorest Otte et al. report reviewed in the publication of an FAO report in people consume very little in the Bookstack [page 23]). 2006, when FAO declared: “Livestock way of livestock products and suffer a major threat to environment”. from various forms of malnutrition Complexity The environmental ‘bads’ include as a result. For them, increased One of the reasons why there is so land degradation, water scarcity and consumption of livestock products much controversy associated with pollution, and greenhouse gas could be very beneficial, and could livestock development is that the (GHG) emissions. A small but greatly improve women’s health and international livestock sector is vociferous anti-livestock movement children’s development. heterogeneous and complex; and has sought to block livestock commentators, journalists, lobbyists development because of Poverty alleviation. Livestock are (and even some scientists) tend to environmental concerns. widely owned by poor people. Overall, over-generalise, basing their livestock ownership is more equitable