Agriculture 21 | fao.org
For some of the biggest players in the world’s rapidly globalizing livestock sector, 2004 was a year to forget. BSE-related bans on North American beef contributed to a six percent slump in world beef trade, while avian influenza in Asia slowed growth in world poultry output to its lowest rate on record and led to an unprecedented drop of 50 percent in Thailand’s poultry meat exports. Result: the first decline since the mid-1980s in the volume of meat traded internationally, and severe disruption of domestic and international food marketing chains.
Analysts in FAO’s Livestock Policy Branch say the 2004 slump illustrates the risks that accompany livestock globalization. In a paper that goes before FAO’s Committee on Agriculture this month, they point out that while globalization can increase national income, create employment and improve nutrition, it also “globalizes” potential threats to livelihoods, human health and the environment. To balance these impacts, the paper proposes a framework to help FAO member countries deal with globalization’s unintended consequences. “Demands and complexities are likely to grow, not diminish,” the paper cautions, calling for greater dialogue between the international community and national governments and between the public and private sectors.
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