INDG 401 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Zoonosis, Food Security, Sedentism
9 Jun 2018
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Lecture 14 – Humberto Monardes
Animals and Food security
• Animal source foods (ASF) in the human diet
o Wild animal tissues played a predominant role in the diet of early humans
o Meat was included
▪ Starting out as opportunistic hunting and scavenging, and turning into
organised hunting
o Shifting from hunting and gathering to animal domestication and agriculture
began approx. 12,000 years ago
▪ Less meat and more plants
▪ Less nutritional diversity
• Dietary consequences of developing agriculture
o In general, ASF decreased in the diets od humans in the last 10,000 years
• Health consequences of developing agriculture
o Was it good for the human condition?
▪ Population crowding and sedentism
▪ Major infectious and zoonotic diseases
▪ Bones weaker in agricultural regimes
▪ Decline in height of agricultural societies
▪ Obesity?
• The livestock revolution
o After the gree reolutio, appro. ’s
o Changing dietary patters
▪ Increased demand for livestock products
• Meat and eggs
• Contribution of animals to human well-being
o The production of useful products
o The collection, conversion and concentration of dispersal nutrients
o The performance of work
o The performance of special functions
o Source of chemicals to prevent or cure diseases
o Providing income at household and national level
o The major contribution of animals to human well-being, has been undoubtedly
the provision of a concentrated source of nutrients
▪ This simple fact allowed man more time for the development of
communications, planning, social interaction, inventions and human
societies, in general
• The livestock sector
o Accounts for 40% of global agriculture GDP
o Livestock is the only source of livelihood for at least 120 million pastoralists
world wide
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• Livestock, food security, and nutrition
o ASF represent nutrient-dense foods, source of high quality protein and key
essential bio-available micronutrients
o Milk improves growth
o Meat improves cognitive ability
• Ability of animal products
o Mixed systems in which animals eat grass and crop residues as well as
oetrates produe % of the orld’s ilk ad % of its eef
• Availability of ASF
o Ability has grown steadily in the past 40 years, but how close to what is needed
to reach food security?
o Standards talk about a balanced diet should contain a mixtures of nutrients from
plant and animal sources with a higher proportion of nutrients coming from
plant sources
• Livestock and accessibility to food
o Liestok proide ioe ad arterig poer that otriute to their oers’
ability to access food
o Livestock also contribute o human capital and hence the ability to buy and
produce food, by financing education and medical expenses
o They can be a source of social capital, giving people a safety net to sustain them
in food insecure times
o They provide income and employment not only to farmers but to other members
of the food production chain
• Livestock and stability of food security
o Livestock contribute in a number of ways to the food stability of their owners
and the nations where they are produced. However, they are vulnerable to
disease, climate change, and natural disasters and, if these effects are not
addressed, the beneficial effect of livestock on the stability of food supplies will
be reduced
o Livestock are an asset that can help build social and economic buffers against
unexpected shocks. Diversifying livestock enterprises between small and large
stock is a sound strategy for food security since small animals reproduce faster
while large animals have greater value
• Who is effected by hunger?
o Urban dwellers
o Fishers
o Herders
o Landless rural
o Small holder farmers
• Animal agriculture and the environment
o Livestock and livestock products are criticised for contributing to unhealthy diets,
climate change, and competition over grains
• Livestock contribution to environment problems
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