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Beefing up for a revolution
African farmers, particularly those in southern Africa, can benefit from the global boom in the demand for meat says new research that suggests several options for ensuring that the "livestock revolution" does not pass them by.
Photo courtesy of IRIN
More effective ways of controlling foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), direct exports to large retailers in the European Union (EU) and targeting the emerging meat market in Asia are some of the proposals suggested by a four-country study in Southern Africa to help beef up exports.
Namibia, Botswana and South Africa - and until recently Zimbabwe - are models for the rest of Africa in setting up a successful livestock export system, according to the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) based at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, which coordinated the research.
"This means meeting increasingly stringent international standards, set according to importing country requirements and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement of the WTO (World Trade Organisation), and overseen by the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE)," said an IDS outline of the studies.
