Animal genetic resources

Marketing products from local livestock breeds: An analysis of eight cases

Local breeds and minor species are hardy and able to thrive in harsh conditions. Their adaptive traits and unique characteristics (coloured wool or hides, extra-fine fibre, meat or milk with special tastes) offer opportunities for the marketing of speciality products and sustainable food production in marginal areas.
This study discusses eight initiatives from Africa, Asia and Latin America that help communities to produce and market various products for niche markets: milk and dairy products from dromedaries; cashmere, wool and handicrafts from goats, sheep and Bactrian camels; and meat, meat products and handicrafts from goats and sheep.
The main strategies were to seek new markets for existing or entirely new products (rather than trying to exploit existing markets). Most initiatives had some form of branding or labelling, and two had protected their products with geographical indications.
Such marketing initiatives can be started with limited capital inputs but are skill and knowledge intensive. They require strong commitment to overcome seasonal fluctuations in production, the lack of infrastructure and services, and difficulties in institution building. But when well planned and carefully managed, they can help conserve breeds as well as provide a livelihood for people involved in the value chain, allowing actors earlier in the value chain – livestock keepers and small-scale processors – to capture a greater share of the value of the end product than they would by trying to serve a mass market.

http://www.fao.org/3/i1823t/i1823t07.pdf

  • Title: Marketing products from local livestock breeds: An analysis of eight cases
  • Author: Evelyn Mathias, Paul Mundy and Ilse Köhler-Rollefson / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations / 2010
  • Description: Local breeds and minor species are hardy and able to thrive in harsh conditions
  • Format: Zip
  • Pages: 14

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    Donner de la valeur ajoutée à la diversité du bétail pour promouvoir les races locales et améliorer les moyens d’existence

    Partie 1: La laine et le cachemire
    Partie 2: La viande et les peaux
    Partie 3: Le lait
    Partie 4: Analyse
    De nombreuses races locales et espèces mineures de bétail sont en déclin et peuvent être perdues parce qu’elles ne peuvent pas faire face à la concurrence des races exotiques plus rentables. Il est important de conserver ces races: nombre d’entre elles ont des traits uniques comme par exemple la robustesse et la résistance aux maladies, toutes choses qui sont essentielles pour l’avenir de la production du bétail. Une voie pour aider à assurer leur survie peut consister à vendre les produits de ces races sur des marchés spécialisés à haute valeur.
    Le Plan d’Action Mondial pour les Ressources Zoogénétiques reconnaît l’importance de l’accès au marché pour une utilisation durable de la diversité du bétail et lance un appel pour le développement de marchés pour les produits dérivés des espèces et races locales et pour le renforcement de processus susceptibles de donner de la valeur ajoutée à leurs produits.
    La présente publication décrit huit exemples de commercialisation de produits du bétail (laine, cachemire, lait, viande et peaux) tirés de races locales de chameaux bactriens, de dromadaires, de chèvres et de moutons dans sept pays d’Afrique, d’Asie et d’Amérique Latine. Elle montre avec ces exemples, comment on a maintenu l’utilisation des races locales, tout en permettant aux petits éleveurs et aux pasteurs de continuer à les élever pour améliorer leurs moyens d’existence.

  • Title:
  • Author: Evelyn Mathias and Paul Mundy / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations / 2010
  • Description: De nombreuses races locales et espèces mineures de bétail sont en déclin et peuvent être perdues parce qu’elles ne peuvent pas faire face à la concurrence des races exotiques plus rentables
  • Format: Zip
  • Pages: 160

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    Kuttapalayam Confirmation

    A group of non-government organizations has called on governments and international organizations to support the conservation of livestock breeds in their original habitats – and by the livestock-keeping groups that developed them.
    Members of the LIFE Network, a grouping of organizations focusing on local livestock breeds, made the call at a conference at Kuttapalayam, in Tamil Nadu, India, on 13-15 August 2010.
    The final statement from the conference calls on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to promote agro-ecosystems approaches to the management of animal genetic resources and support indigenous and local production systems. These goals are already incorporated in the Global Plan of Action on Animal Genetic Resources.
    The NGOs also demanded that livestock keepers be included in the debate about the future of livestock production and to be recognized as guardians of livestock biodiversity.
    The conference statement was signed by 21 NGOs from India, South Africa, Kenya, Spain and Germany.

  • Title: Kuttapalayam Confirmation
  • Author: LIFE Network / LIFE Network / 2010
  • Description: A group of non-government organizations has called on governments and international organizations to support the conservation of livestock breeds in their original habitats - and by the livestock-keeping groups that developed them
  • Format: Zip
  • Pages: 3

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