Farmed animal production in tropical circular food systems

Abstract

In the discourse about the development of farmed animal production (terrestrial livestock production and aquaculture) in the tropics, two important food system outcomes emerge: (1) to supply animal-sourced food (ASF) at a level that suffices healthy future diets, including for poor people, and (2) to contribute to climate change mitigation and minimize pollution with nitrogen and phosphorus. Livestock production and aquaculture contribute to food security directly by increasing producers’ food diversity and availability, but also that of urban consumers, and indirectly through income generation and increased farm resilience. Recently, circularity has come to the fore as an integrated approach to food system development. Circularity has four cornerstones: (1) food crops have highest priority (which implies no food-feed competition), (2) avoid losses, (3) recycle waste and (4) use animals to unlock biomass that humans cannot eat. In this review, the role of farmed animals in circular food systems in the tropics is presented in four case studies and the impacts of circularity on food security and environmental impact mitigation are discussed. The cases are ruminants in grazing systems in West Africa and in Colombia, fish in pond aquaculture in general, and land-limited dairy production in Indonesia. Additionally, options for novel protein sources for use in livestock and fish feeding are presented. It is concluded that farmed animals are important in circular food systems because of their use of land unsuited for crop production, their upgrading of crop residues, and their supply of manure to crop production. Nevertheless, the increasing demand for ASF puts pressure on important characteristics of circularity, such as minimizing food-feed competition, maximization of use of waste streams in feed, and the value of manure for fertilization. Hence, in line with conclusions for Western countries, maximum circularity and sustainability of food systems can only be achieved by optimizing the population size of animals. Thus, a sustainable contribution of ASF production to global food security is complex and in not only a technical matter or outcome of an economic process balancing supply and demand. It requires governance for which public, private, and social actors need to partner.

The carbon footprint of young-beef cattle finishing systems in the Eastern Plains of the Orinoco River Basin of Colombia

“…Nevertheless, as feed-intensive practices are inevitably linked to the provision of high-concentrated diets, plausible BFS should consider that a kg of feed-milled supplement at the farm gate may represent 0.93 kg CO 2eq under a life cycle assessment methodology (Adom et al, 2013). Relatedly, the evaluation of trade-offs, synergies, and challenges between land use, breeding goals, plant by-products, profitability, environmental stability, and consumers' recognition of WNSE-BFS in a circular planet-friendly food system should be similarly addressed (Oosting et al, 2022). Hence, as the transformation of finishing BFS on the WNSE is not well documented, future advances will depend on research focused on the integration of beef genotypes, grazing systems with an emphasis on deep-rooted pasture grass and legume species, and several fattening-supplemented practices under grazing or feed yard conditions to assist decision-making and to address environmental policy issues.…”

Insights into the diversity of cow milk production systems on the fringes of coastal cities in West Africa: A case study from Benin

“…As highlighted by Awasthi et al (2022), when manure is returned to cropland, it contributes to nutrient recycling as it enables to replace about 60 to 75% of chemical fertilizer. Proper management of manure in the peri-urban livestock production systems of southern Benin can be considered an important contribution to the urban circular economy (Tadesse et al, 2021;Oosting et al, 2022).…”

Urban Farming Development Strategy to Achieve Sustainable Agriculture in Magelang, Indonesia

“…Integrated farming contributes to overall urban circularity metabolism and urban aesthetics [41]. Furthermore, it also positively impacts household income because the products come from not only one sector but several sectors that are integrated into an agricultural system [42].…”