Facts and data on livestock farming hit home at FAO conference
Leather chemicals manufacturer Smit & Zoon has said a recent conference organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) added authority to the debate about the benefits of cattle farming.
Smit & Zoon said livestock farming was a much-debated topic but that data and facts often played little part in the discussions. It said discussions at the FAO’s first global conference on sustainable livestock transformation in Rome had been encouraging and worth listening to.
It highlighted, from the points that the FAO discussion raised, that the world population is projected to reach 9.8 billion people in 2050. In tandem with this, the demand for milk, meat and eggs is projected to increase by more than 20% between 2020 and 2050.
Animal-source foods are recognised as some of the best available sources of high-quality, nutrient-rich food, including for women during pregnancy and lactation, children, adolescents and elderly people, Smit & Zoon said.
Over 1 billion animals are herded by pastoralists worldwide. Pastoralists’ work is particularly crucial in areas such as drylands, highlands, wetlands, and shrublands, where conditions are challenging for crop production.
Finally, it noted that cattle are “crucial for nutrition, soil fertility and the right of existence for large communities”. Hides will always be there, and in abundance, Smit & Zoon concluded, and we can use them or lose them
