The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock (Livestock CRP) provides research-based solutions to help smallholder farmers, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists transition to sustainable, resilient livelihoods and to productive enterprises that will help feed future generations. It aims to increase the productivity and profitability of livestock agri-food systems in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and eggs more available and affordable across the developing world.
To do this, five interacting areas are being addressed: (1) the genetic potential of the animals kept, (2) their nutrition, (3) their health, (4) their interaction with the environment, and (5) the livelihoods opportunities livestock offer through better management, agri-business models and policies.
Based on these five areas, the program aims to:
- Ensure that appropriate livestock breeds are readily available, affordable and widely used by poor women and men livestock keepers.
- Improve livestock health and health service delivery.
- Increase livestock nutrition by identifying, testing and delivering superior feed and forage strategies and options.
- Reduce the environmental footprint of livestock production across both rapid and fragile growth trajectories, while ensuring that livestock systems in target countries are able to adapt to global environmental changes.
- Maximize livestock-mediated livelihoods and resilience to risk among smallholder and pastoral producers and their communities, whilst enhancing availability and access to animal-source food for rural and urban consumers.