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It's time to recognise the important role livestock play in tackling poverty | Christie Peacock The contribution of livestock to the rural economy remains under-appreciated by all players in development, except farmers. It's time for that to changeLivestock finally made it on to the agenda of the World Food Prize meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, last week. Livestock and the people who keep them are usually neglected by aid experts all over the world, including the eminent agronomists who dominate this event. Most crop scientists have a very narrow focus on a few staple food crops and don't always look at all the activities on small farms and how they are linked together. The vast majority of farmers in Africa do not use artificial fertilizers and rely on the soil's natural fertility supplemented by animal manure and legumes. Many farms in the world are still ploughed by cattle or buffalo and yet crop scientists continue to overlook and undervalue the crucial role livestock can play in crop production. I have seen farmers in Kenya almost come to blows over the ownership of goat manure from a group breeding station because they value it so much to fertilize their vegetables and coffee.The contribution of livestock to the wider rural economy remains under-appreciated by all players in development, except farmers. This leads to the current absurd under-investment in the livestock sector as a whole. Barely 0.4% of the aid budget is spent on developing the livestock sector and yet, for example, in India the dairy sector alone is the most valuable part of the whole agricultural sector, creating more value than all rice production.Livestock in Africa play many different roles in supporting families and are particularly important for the poorest families. In Ethiopia if crops fail, as they often do, families who have livestock to sell can survive without food aid. If they lack livestock they will quickly become dependent on aid. Smaller livestock such as sheep and goats are useful as a source of cash in areas where there is no banking and are frequently sold to pay for school or hospital fees when needed.Increasing income in urban areas is driving the demand for animal products, opening up new opportunities for poor farmers to make money. Even small improvements to feeding and healthcare in traditional low-input systems when combined with a market focus can make this happen. Ruminants have an amazing ability to convert crop residues and other unused vegetation into high value products. This can help poor families get out of poverty. We see this all the time in the work of Farm-Africa - lives transformed through livestock. There is also a growing body of evidence that the consumption of even small quantities of animal products – meat and milk being the most obvious – has a huge benefit on a child's development.Of course livestock need to be used rationally. The disproportionate contribution of a few livestock "hotspots" – for example Amazonian ranches, north American feedlots – to greenhouse gas emissions must not lead the anti-livestock movement to block livestock development across the board. Any livestock development must not compete with man for food grains and should focus on using biomass that cannot be used for other purposes. I am fearful that concern over livestock gas emissions may, inadvertently, prejudice the life chances of millions of poor livestock farmers, for whom livestock remain the fastest route out of poverty. George Monbiot, having looked at the facts, has retracted his previous anti-livestock stance. I hope that livestock can enter the mainstream of development and that my invitation to the World Food Prize meeting is the start of a livestock revolution for poor farmers all over the world.• Christie Peacock is CEO of Farm-Africa and a member of the Global development website's advisory panelAidAgricultureFarmingThe meat industryChristie Peacockguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |