VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3 2012


Meat is complicated. On the one hand, meat is rich in nutrients that are easily absorbed by the human body. Increased meat consumption presents one of the best opportuni-


ties to improve undernourished people’s nutrition and health. On the other hand, consuming too much meat can be a nutritional and health calamity. Issues of pro- duction are equally fraught. Combining crop and live- stock production on a modest scale? That’s a boon for farmers and the environment. Building industrial-scale livestock “factories,” which can greatly increase produc- tion? That can damage the environment, spread disease, and exacerbate climate change if the right policies and technologies are not in place. The challenge is creat- ing a food system in which meat contributes to people’s health, nutrition, and livelihoods, without jeopardizing the natural resource base on which we depend. The fea- ture article in this issue of Insights looks at these con- cerns with a focus on poor people and poor countries.


I invite your comments on this article as well as on the many others describing IFPRI’s current work.


Shenggen Fan, Director General


EDITOR Heidi Fritschel ART DIRECTOR Julia Vivalo


STAFF WRITERS Sara Gustafson, Marcia MacNeil, Andrea Pedolsky, Ashley St. Tomas, Susan Buzzelli Tonassi


CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ian Johnson, Peter Katel, Robert Kiener, Don Lippincott, Jennifer Weeks STAFF DESIGNER Carolyn Hallowell


EMAIL IFPRI-Insights@cgiar.org INSIGHTS ONLINE http://insights.ifpri.info IFPRI ONLINE www.ifpri.org


The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) was established in 1975 to identify and analyze national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world on a sustainable basis, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries. IFPRI is a member of the CGIAR Consortium.


The boundaries, names, and designations used on maps appearing in Insights do not imply official endorsement or ac- ceptance by IFPRI


Copyright © 2012 International Food Policy Research Insti- tute. All rights reserved. For permission to republish contact ifpri-copyright@cgiar.org.


BUJA MATHOW, KENYA


In the midst of a drought, a pastoralist brings his camels to a water point


recently rehabilitated by Oxfam. © 2011 P. Wiggers/Panos


COVER PHOTO: Young pigs in a pen at the Grand Canal Pig Farm in Jiaxing, China; pork is by far the most popular meat eaten in China. © 2011 Q. Shen/Panos


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