Sustainability & efficiency

Empowering livestock productivity for sustainable food security through genetic improvement

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Abstract

In the coming years, global food security will increasingly depend on food production from the global south, especially in less developed, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Developed nations are experiencing mounting challenges to their "social license to farm" due to stricter environmental regulations, shifting consumer attitudes, and competition for land. This shift is particularly significant for livestock ruminant production, which relies heavily on grasslands and shared grazing areas for animal feed. Recent statistics show notable declines in sheep, goat, and cattle numbers in developed regions, while livestock populations have grown in countries such as India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Mongolia.Despite their importance, most LMIC livestock systems face significant obstacles due to inadequate supply chain infrastructure, which hampers commercialization and access to essential inputs. This deficiency also limits the development of genetic improvement and breeding programs, resulting in persistently low productivity, diminished rural livelihoods, and increased environmental impacts. There is, however, opportunity to establish adaptative functioning infrastructures to implement breeding programs in smallholder small-scale household and commercial systems, assuming these can be largely supported by the principles of community-based breeding programs (CBBPs). Consultative approaches across diverse livestock farming systems reveal that community involvement is crucial for the success of development programs. Communities typically set collective goals, manage outcomes, record data, and make key decisions.This study investigates a framework for smallholder systems, focusing on 1) small-scale household systems, characterized by local breeds grazing communally and maintaining 5-50 animals primarily for food and occasional income, and 2) small-scale commercial systems, which utilize crossbreeding, larger herds (50-500 animals), and greater investment in feed and animal health, with livestock serving mainly as an income source. Our experience demonstrates how CBBPs can support genetic improvement in LMIC contexts, leveraging communal infrastructure and shared access to superior genetics selected from within local populations. It advocates for locally adapted genetic resources by implementing straightforward performance recording of key traits, including emerging metrics like methane emissions and climate resilience. It also encourages a strategic shift in funding and research priorities, integrating phenotype data and modern molecular technologies such as genomic selection to identify and predict the genetic merit of influential animals for economically important traits.Finally, we present partial results from the characterization of locally adapted breeds across several countries over the past decade, highlighting the critical role of data in shaping breeding policies that enhance productivity in less developed regions and secure future global food supplies.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Amer, P., Bjelland, D., Getachew, T., Haile, A., Mwacharo, J., Nimbkar, C., Oliveira, T., Rekik, M., Rischkowsky, B., Santos, B., Schurink, A. & van Tonder, J., (2026) “Empowering livestock productivity for sustainable food security through genetic improvement”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2281145. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.23452

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