The livestock sector globally is highly dynamic. In developing countries such as Nigeria, it is evolving in response to rapidly increasing demand for livestock products. In developed countries, demand for livestock products is stagnating, while many production systems are increasing their efficiency and environmental sustainability. Historical changes in the demand for livestock products have been largely driven by human population growth, income growth and urbanization and the production response in different livestock systems has been associated with science and technology as well as increases in animal numbers. In the future, production will increasingly be affected by competition for natural resources, particularly land and water, competition between food and feed and by the need to operate in a carbon-constrained economy. Developments in breeding, nutrition and animal health will continue to contribute to increasing potential production and further efficiency and genetic gains. Livestock production is likely to be increasingly affected by carbon constraints and environmental and animal welfare legislation. Demand for livestock products in the future could be heavily moderated by socio-economic factors such as human health concerns and changing socio-cultural values. There is considerable uncertainty as to how these factors will play out in different regions of the world in the coming decades.

CHAPTER ONE
1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION
Livestock systems occupy about 30 per cent of the planet's ice-free terrestrial surface area (Steinfeld et al. 2006) and are a significant global asset. The livestock sector is increasingly organized in long market chains that employ at least 1.3 billion people globally and directly support the livelihoods of 600 million poor smallholder farmers in the developing world (Thornton et al. 2006). Keeping livestock is an important risk reduction strategy for vulnerable communities, and livestock are important providers of nutrients and traction for growing crops in smallholder systems. Livestock products contribute 17 per cent to kilocalorie consumption and 33 per cent to protein consumption globally, but there are large differences between rich and poor countries (Rosegrant et al. 2009).
Livestock systems have both positive and negative effects on the natural resource base, public health, social equity and economic growth (World Bank 2009). Currently, livestock is one of the fastest growing agricultural subsectors in developing countries. Its share of agricultural GDP is already 33 per cent and is quickly increasing. This growth is driven by the rapidly increasing demand for livestock products, this demand being driven by population growth, urbanization and increasing incomes in developing countries (Delgado 2005).
The global livestock sector is characterized by a dichotomy between developing and developed countries. Total meat production in the developing world tripled between 1980 and 2002, from 45 to 134 million tons (World Bank 2009). Much of this growth was concentrated in countries that experienced rapid economic growth, particularly in East Asia, and revolved around poultry and pigs. In developed countries, on the other hand, production and consumption of livestock products are now growing only slowly or stagnating, although at high levels. Even so, livestock production and merchandizing in industrialized countries account for 53 per cent of agricultural GDP (World Bank 2009). This combination of growing demand in the developing world and stagnant demand in industrialized countries represents a major opportunity for livestock keepers in developing countries, where most demand is met by local production, and this is likely to continue well into the foreseeable future. At the same time, the expansion of agricultural production needs to take place in a way that allows the less well-off to benefit from increased demand and that moderates its impact on the environment.
This paper attempts a rapid summary of the present-day state of livestock production systems globally in relation to recent trends, coupled with a brief assessment of whether these trends are likely to continue into the future.

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigeria, with a population of over 170 million people is grossly underprovided with essential food components like protein which is important for the realization and development of human potentials both mentally and physically. Data from the FOS, CBN, and FAO indicates that from cattle, less than 2kg of beef is available to an average Nigerian per year and just mere 4kg of eggs per annum is available to each Nigerian. In fact, milk production has been nose diving or at best has remained constant since 1994.
Livestock production is a source of employment and livelihood to many Nigerians. The livestock population comprises cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry etc. The livestock system employed by the farmers is characterized by traditional system of production.
Cattle are the most predominant and highly valued livestock in Nigeria. They are kept for beef, hide, and milk, for traction and for many as a status symbol. The domestic production and documented importation of cattle are, together, not enough to meet more than 60% of the actual demand. Transportation of cattle from the north to the south in Nigeria presents a daunting problem because it is both a costly and risky business. This provides opportunities for livestock producers to establish profitable livestock enterprises, because of the large increase in the demand for animal products.
The market for fresh milk products in Nigeria may be segmented into a number of classes by two main criteria namely Character (i.e. individual or corporate) and Income distribution.
The various activities of the Nigerian dairy industry (viz. milk production, importation, processing, marketing and consumption) have been going on in the country for over 100 years. These activities are, however, largely unorganized except for the relatively few processing firms that produce and market reconstituted milk products from imported powdered milk.
Though Nigeria is the largest producer of cow milk in West Africa and the third in Africa, the country is a net importer of the product and in order to increase the percentage of the livestock sector and local milk production in Nigeria, massive investment is required in the dairy industry to meet up with the 1.45 billion litres estimated national milk requirement.
Presently, the local production of milk is less than 1% of the total annual demand that has been estimated at 1.45 billion litres, making the total milk consumption in Nigeria less than 10 litres per head whereas the global average is about 40 litres per head. In other parts of Africa, it is 28 litres per head.
Between 1960 and 1990 the world's human population increased by 75 per cent from 3.1 billion to 5.4 billion but developing country populations increased by 97 per cent from 2.097 billion to 4.138 billion (FAO, 1992). Food grain production per caput during the same period increased from 310 to 375 kg overall but from 190 to 260 kg in developing countries. In the late 1970s, 45 developing countries were unable to assure adequate food energy needs of 2200 calories per person per day for their populations and 25 of these countries were still in the same position in the late 1980s (Pinstrup-Andersen, 1994). There are now 800 million people suffering from malnutrition and hunger, not only due to insufficient production and inadequate distribution but also because the poor lack the income to acquire food of adequate quantity and quality to satisfy their needs (FAO, 1993a).
The world population is projected to increase from 5.4 billion in 1990 to about 7.2 billion in 2010. This increase will occur mainly in the developing countries and in urban areas and will have major effects on patterns of food production, marketing and consumption. Strategies are needed to ensure food security for the growing population, to increase income, to support economic development, and to protect the environment.

1.3                                               OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Livestock production is inherently unstable given its dependence on climatic and other environmental conditions. This instability is a major source of price and supply fluctuations for livestock products. The stabilisation objective can take two forms: price and income. With respect to the former, the aim of this work is to minimize price and supply fluctuations with a view to shield both consumers and producers from the full impact of erratic nominal price variations. The income stabilisation objective, on the other hand, is basically producer-oriented. For-instance, Nigeria's agricultural policy document states that one of the policy objectives of the livestock subsector is to improve and stabilizes rural income emanating from livestock production and processing (Nigeria, 1988). The aim here is to reduce the fluctuations in prices which may lead to an undesired change in real incomes of producers.

1.3                                           SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Livestock production is a major component of the agricultural economy of developing countries and goes well beyond direct food production. Sales of livestock and their products provide direct cash income to farmers. Livestock are the living bank for many farmers and have a critical role in the agricultural intensification process through provision of draught power and manure for fertilizer and fuel. They are also closely linked to the social and cultural lives of millions of resource-poor farmers for whom animal ownership ensures varying degrees of sustainable farming and economic stability. Official statistics often underestimate the overall contribution of livestock and especially their multipurpose contributions to food and agricultural production in developing countries.

1.4                                             CHALLENGES OF THE STUDY
The major challenges facing the livestock sector are:

• lack of capital,
• storage facilities,
• lack of reserved land for livestock farmers 
• Frequent theft.

1.5                                                PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Livestock are used by nigerians for a variety of purposes, many of which have an economic value. Livestock products include:
Meat: A useful form of dietary protein and energy, meat is the edible tissue of the animal carcass.
Dairy products: Mammalian livestock can be used as a source of milk, which can in turn easily be processed into other dairy products, such as yogurt, cheese, butter, ice cream, kefir, and kumis. Using livestock for this purpose can often yield several times the food energy of slaughtering the animal outright.
Clothing and adornment: Livestock produce a range of fiber textiles. For example, domestic sheep and goats produce wool and mohair, respectively; cattle, swine, deer, and sheep skins can be made into leather; livestock bones, hooves and horns can be used to fabricate jewellery, pendants, or headgear.
Fertilizer: Manure can be spread on fields to increase crop yields. This is an important reason why historically, plant and animal domestication have been intimately linked. Manure is also used to make plaster for walls and floors, and can be used as a fuel for fires. The blood and bone of animals are also used as fertilizer.
Labor: The muscles of animals such as horses, donkeys, and yaks can be used to provide mechanical work. Prior to steam power, livestock were the only available source of nonhuman labor. They are still used in many places of the world to plough fields (drafting), transport goods and people, in military functions, and to power treadmills for grinding grain.
Land management: The grazing of livestock is sometimes used as a way to control weeds and undergrowth. For example, in areas prone to wildfires, goats and sheep are set to graze on dry scrub which removes combustible material and reduces the risk of fires.
Conservation: The raising of livestock to conserve a rare breed can be achieved through gene banking and breeding programmes.[6]
During the history of animal husbandry, many secondary products have arisen in an attempt to increase carcass utilization and reduce waste. For example, animal offal and inedible parts may be transformed into products such as pet food and fertilizer. In the past, such waste products were sometimes also fed to livestock, as well. However, intraspecies recycling poses a disease risk, threatening animal and even human health.

1.6                                            ADVANTAGES OF THE STUDY
Livestock farming is a sure sign of a modern civilisation. Those who do raise it and consume them, are effectively having a much more stable food source. There are many minerals in meat that do provide us to be healthy – however you could probably find many of these in lentils (however disgusting they can taste to some.) There is some variety in our diet. It provides flavour and taste. Raising livestock gives a lot of jobs. Rather selfish to think that people think for themselves rather than animals.

1.7                                        DISADVANTAGES OF THE STUDY

Global Warming: All of you should be aware of how livestock are a major contributor to global warming (if it does exist) to our environment. The carbon produced e.g. decaying and methane produced frow e.g. cows, if we did stop eating meat - we would definitely be reducing the amount of gases released into the environment.
Food: Considering at the rate of how the population is increasing, we might not have enough food to feed everyone, hell – there are people dying at the moment due to starvation in Africa.
Eating vegetable gives us more food than eating meat. Vegetables are the producers of a food chain; and usually, as the food chain progresses, the biomass (amount of living material) decreases.
When we keep livestock, we are continuously adding levels into the food chain by e.g. feeding the pigs/cows. This reduces the amount of biomass and ultimately means that there is less food to eat. I hope this makes sense? If we eat plants, it’ll mean that we need less food to fill us up – so there would be less agriculture, leaving most of the planet to restore itself.

REFERENCES
  Thornton P. K., Gerber P. 2010Climate change and the growth of the livestock sector in developing countries. Mitigation Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Change 15, 169–184.

  Thornton P. K., Herrero M. Submitted The potential for reduced emissions from livestock and pasture management in the tropics. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA.

  Thornton P. K., et al. 2006Mapping climate vulnerability and poverty in Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI; See http://www.dfid.gov.uk/research/mapping-climate.pdf

  Thornton P. K., van de Steeg J., Notenbaert A., Herrero M. 2009The impacts of climate change on livestock and livestock systems in developing countries: a review of what we know and what we need to know. Agric. Syst. 101, 113–127

  UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) 2008Challenges and opportunities for mitigation in the agricultural sector: technical paper. United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change. See http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2008/tp/08.pdf

  UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) 2008The State of World Population 2007: unleashing the potential of urban growth. United Nations Population Fund. See http://www.unfpa.org/swp/swpmain.htm

  UNPD (United Nations Population Division) 2008The 2006 revision and world urbanization prospects: the 2005 Revision. Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects. See http://esa.un.org/unpp

  Vallat B., Acar J. F., Schudel A. 2005Antibiotic use in animal production and consequences on food safety. The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers; (WAAP Book of the Year 2005, 311–317)

  Van Dijk J., Sargison N. D., Kenyon F., Skuce P. J. 2010Climate change and infectious disease: helminthological

  Rodell M., Velicogna I., Famiglietti J. S. 2009Satellite-based estimates of groundwater depletion in India. Nature 460, 999–1002 (doi:10.1038/nature08238)

  Rosegrant M. W., Cai X., Cline S. A. 2002Global water outlook to 2025, averting an impending crisis. A 2020 vision for food, agriculture, and the environment initiative. Washington, DC: IFPRI and IWMI

  Rosegrant M. W., et al. 2009Looking into the future for agriculture and AKST (Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology). In Agriculture at a crossroads (eds McIntyre B. D., Herren H. R., Wakhungu J., Watson R. T., editors. ), pp. 307–376 Washington, DC: Island Press

  Scott N. R. 2006Impact of nanoscale technologies in animal management. The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers; (WAAP Book of the Year 2006, 283–291)

---

This material is a complete and well researched project material strictly for academic purposes, which has been approved by different Lecturers from different higher institutions. We make abstract and chapter one visible for everyone.

All Project Topics on this site have complete 5(five) Chapters . Each Project Material include: Abstract + Introduction + etc + Literature Review + methodology + etc + Conclusion + Recommendation + References/Bibliography.

To "DOWNLOAD" the complete material on this particular topic above click "HERE"

Do you want our Bank Accounts? please click HERE

To view other related topics click HERE

To "SUMMIT" new topic(s), develop a new topic OR you did not see your topic on our site but want to confirm the availiability of your topic click HERE

Do you want us to research for your new topic? if yes, click "HERE"

Do you have any question concerning our post/services? click HERE for answers to your questions

You can also visit our facebook Page at fb.me/hyclas to view more our related construction (or design) pics

---

For more information contact us through Any of the following means:

Mobile No :+2348146561114 or +2347015391124 [Mr. Innocent]

Email address :engr4project@gmail.com

Watsapp No :+2348146561114

To View Our Design Pix: You can also visit our facebook Page at fb.me/hyclas for our design photos/pics.

---

IF YOU ARE SATISFIED WITH OUR SERVICES, PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND COURSEMATES TO OUR PAGE.