Sustainable Livestock Farming

The practice of farming, breeding, and slaughter of livestock is known as animal husbandry, which has been practiced worldwide for food and commodities. In due time, the livestock farming practices have been shifted to intensive animal farming, often referred as “Factory farming”. Intensive livestock farming produces various commercial products, but has also led to negative impact on animal welfare, the environment, and public health. Livestock fulfils the nutritional requirement of human being. The livelihoods of the people living in poverty worldwide depend directly on livestock. Livestock provides 18% of the total calories and 39% of the protein consumption. The annual growth rates of livestock sector have been around 3.8%, as compared to 2.7% for crops and 1.2% for non-food agricultural products. The overall growth in the livestock has consistently exceeded that of the crop sector. But the growth rates of livestock only getting slow down over the projection period (Table 6.1). The livestock sector consumes 6 billion tonnes of dry feed per year. This includes one-third of global cereal production. About 86% of global livestock feed intake is made of materials that are not consumable by human beings. About a third of total value of gross agricultural output is consumed by the developing countries, and it is apprehended to rise quickly due to increase in population, process of urbanization, rising consumer incomes, and potential dietary shifts to higher calorie intake, and use of greater amount of animal proteins [1].