CIRAD Agricultural research for development
  • Version française
  • Intranet
Quick search
  • News
  • Jobs
  • Contacts/Access
  • Who are we?
    • CIRAD in a nutshell
    • CIRAD worldwide
    • Organization
    • Our strategy
    • Our partnerships
    • Our values
  • Our research
    • Key thematic fields
    • The impact of our research
    • Tropical value chains
    • Research units
    • Platforms in partnership for research and training
    • Open research resources and infrastructures
  • Teaching & training
    • Higher education
    • Available training
    • E-learning
  • Innovation & expertise
    • Partnerships for innovation
    • Skills and expertise
    • Products and services
    • Our subsidiaries
  • Publications & resources
    • CIRAD publications
    • CIRAD data
    • Information resources
    • Publishing
    • Science for all
    • Photo library
    • Website Directory
  • You are here:
  • Home >
  • Our research >
  • Tropical value chains >
  • Animal production >
  • Context and issues

Back to the list
Animal production. (© Delphine Guard-Lavastre/CIRAD)

Research units

Units working for animal production

Contact

Alexandre Ickowicz
Head, UMR Selmet (Mediterranean and Tropical Livestock Systems)
Montpellier, France
E-mail

  • Key thematic fields
  • The impact of our research
  • Tropical value chains
    • Banana and plantain
    • Cocoa
    • Coffee
    • Sugarcane
    • Coconut
    • Cotton
    • Fruit and vegetables
    • Rubber
    • Dairy
    • Oil palm
    • Animal production
    • Forest resources
    • Rice
    • Sorghum
    • Roots and tubers
  • Research units
  • Platforms in partnership for research and training
  • Open research resources and infrastructures

Animal production

Context and issues What CIRAD is doing Scientific publications Resources News

Context and issues

Satisfying growing demand for animal protein in developing countries is a major challenge for the next 20 years or so. However, animal production uses large amounts of agricultural land and biomass. Should demand be managed on a global level?

Zebu market in the Highlands of Madagascar. (© E. Penot/CIRAD)

The issues

  • Intensive and extensive animal production occupies 30% of the world's ice-free land areas, and 70% of the world's cultivated areas are used to produce animal feed (FAO); to boost production, animal and mixed farmers have to be offered innovative, sustainable systems.
  • The effects on the global environment of animal production and its by-products, during both production and processing, are significant: substantial contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, high water consumption, varying effects on biodiversity; it is now vital to take account of these impacts.
  • The role played by small-scale animal farms in alleviating poverty is widely recognized. However, local products face competition from animal products sold on the global markets by the main producing countries (Brazil, Europe): what standards and rules are required to foster local development?
  • The health risks, for both farmed animals and humans, are a significant constraint on commercial trade; moreover, animal products can transmit germs to consumers if the appropriate sanitary measures are not taken during production, processing and distribution.
  • How is global meat and milk consumption likely to change? Will it increase, as the FAO predicts? Might it fall in OECD countries? Is consumption likely to be more balanced between North and South?
Update date: 03/06/2019

  • © CIRAD 2009-2019
  • Site map
  • RSS feed
  • Legal details
  • Marchés publics
  • CIRAD is a founder member of
  • Agreenium
  • Montpellier Université d'excellence (I-Site MUSE)