Tool to Help Livestock Farmers Improve Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Boost Productivity

24 Aug 2016 --- Livestock farmers can calculate meat, milk and egg yields and track greenhouse gas emissions at the same time with a new carbon footprint tool.

In a bid to make the livestock sector more productive and climate-friendly, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has come up with a new tool, called GLEAM-i, the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model interactive, which answers a wide variety of questions.

"The objective of GLEAM is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that livestock activities are as efficient as possible so that they can continue to contribute to people's food, nutrition and livelihood needs while utilizing fewer natural resources," said Anne Mottet, Livestock Policy Officer at FAO.

These includes things for farmers like, how can you get your animals to produce more milk, meat or eggs? Or for policy makers; ‘What practices should you support to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock?

The model developed by FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division to support policy and practice change to achieve sustainable livestock development, GLEAM-i can be used by anyone with Excel software. It’s especially helpful for community organizations working in remote rural area and includes variables such as countries and regions, the number and types of livestock - dairy or meat sheep, backyard or industrial pigs, grazing or mixed systems - feed materials, manure management as well as the specific conditions in which the animals are kept. 

The development of GLEAM-i is a significant move towards helping livestock farmers to investigate the carbon footprint of their business and find ways to become more climate-friendly as the sector is responsible for 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Livestock is particularly important for developing countries where demand for animal protein is rapidly increasing and for remote and marginal areas where there are limited alternatives. Hundreds of millions of people around the planet depend on livestock for livelihoods, food security and nutrition. FAO research based on GLEAM has found that with some cost-effective changes, livestock farmers can increase production and reduce emissions by nearly a third.

Stakeholders will be able to take more informed decisions with better information about the environmental footprint of livestock supply chains, adds Mottet. 

"For example, governments can use GLEAM-i to prepare national inventories and to develop policies for improved efficiency in animal husbandry, feed and manure management.”

GLEAM currently supports several projects, including climate smart agriculture initiatives in Ecuador, Niger, Zambia and Malawi, as well a sa program funded by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition initiative on improving productivity and reducing enteric methane emissions in South America, Southeast Asia and, East and West Africa.