WRITTEN QUESTION P-1325/00

by Caroline Lucas (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(17 April 2000)

Subject: Industrial animal husbandry

Some developing countries have already adopted industrial farming methods of animal husbandry. Others are likely to do so before long. Such farming is not only detrimental to animal welfare, it also poses serious threats to the environment, human health and poverty alleviation in developing countries.

What steps is the Commission taking to encourage developing countries not to adopt industrial animal production systems? In particular, does the Community ever give financial aid for projects which involve the creation or promotion of industrial animal farming in developing countries?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(16 June 2000)

The Commission is aware of the potential consequences of livestock sector industrialisation, particularly in peri-urban areas. The livestock sector in developing countries (DCs) is undergoing dramatic changes. Growing population, rising incomes and growing urbanisation are likely to triple demand by 2030, while the world population is expected to double. This rise in demand is expected to produce significant changes in the structure of the livestock industry, as it will require much more intensive forms of production. This in turn will affect natural resources if intensification is not accompanied by an appropriate technological and policy framework. At present, this evolution is largely occurring in a policy and institutional void.

The recently completed multi-donor study interactions between livestock and the environment (partially sponsored by the Community) provided a thorough analysis of the principal interactions between livestock and the natural resource base. It concludes that industrialisation of livestock production and processing in many developing countries is worrying for a number of reasons. Firstly industrial livestock production generates substantially lower income than the same volume of output in smallholder farms. Benefits, at production level, accrue to few. Cheap animal protein also favours poor consumers, but the poverty and equity effects, as regards livestock production, are on balance largely negative. For agricultural development, the fact that livestock goes industrial takes away the most important growth stimulus that there could potentially be in smallholder farming areas. However, in the harvest and post-harvest sectors, many new jobs are created in slaughterhouses, dairy plants, food processing and in retailing. Secondly the land-detached nature of industrial livestock production, means units tend to concentrate in peri-urban and urban areas, causing massive and increasing damage to the environment. The nutrient cycling that was previously carried out on-farm is no longer occurring. Nutrients are loaded onto limited space, and very often discharged untreated into open waters. Thirdly a number of diseases are associated with intensification. Many of them pose a threat to human health; industrial and intensive forms of animal production may be a breeding ground for emerging diseases (Nippah, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Avian Flu), with unknown consequences. Public health is also threatened by other forms of livestock food safety problems, such as those manifested by the recent dioxin scandal in Europe, antibiotic resistance and other residue issues. Finally, the lack of animal welfare legislation (or its enforcement), the concentrated rearing units, inappropriate transport and slaughtering facilities and lack of awareness of animal welfare, are issues that are of increasing concern.

This analysis needs further development to lead to new approaches and tools. For that, the Commission, in the context of the international initiative Livestock, environment and development (LEAD), is preparing a study in Asia and Latin America to equip decision-makers with tools for environmentally sustainable and equitable forms of livestock development.

The main results expected are firstly comprehensive analysis of the transformation of the livestock sector, secondly specific recommendations to address public good and strategic guidance on research and development with regard to livestock, environment, poverty, equity and animal welfare issues, as well as public health; in particular to design development strategies for the positioning of livestock in the development process for use by research institutions, development agencies, private and public funding institutions, and thirdly use of project outcomes by policy- and decision-makers to be ensured by the Virtual Centre on research and development (integral part of the LEAD-initiative). The Commission has prepared the necessary documents and is now in the process of proposing the study for funding to various internal financial instruments (budget lines Environment or ALA-MEDA). It is expected that the study will provide an original and innovative tool to policy- and decision-makers in choosing national priorities and strategies, and to donors to better target their aid.

The Community is not supporting the creation or promotion of industrial animal farming in DCs. It is in many instances private sector led while the Community aims first at helping poor small scale farmers.