Inclusive Livestock Value Chains and One Health Project (ILVCOHP)

About the Project

The rationale for the project is two-fold: first, short-cycle livestock production such as chicken and pigs has traditionally been an important activity for the vulnerable poor and women-headed households in rural areas. However, this activity has often been constrained by low productivity levels, thus limiting its contribution to enhanced households’ livelihoods; second, possibilities for enhancing revenues from short-cycle livestock production are large, owing to large productivity gaps from current practices and potentials from improved and available technology and management practices.

The project will address key binding constraints for the development of short-cycle livestock value chains by (i) promoting productivity enhancement (animal breeding, genetics, and animal nutrition) measures and market-driven commercialization approaches, involving close linkages with the private sector in specific livestock value chains, and (ii) strengthening the animal health system and adopting One Health approaches to reduce the risks from transboundary animal diseases, zoonoses including food-borne infections, emerging pathogens, and antimicrobial resistance. It will also demonstrate multi-sector approaches for reducing the risk of emerging pathogens (spill over from wildlife), zoonoses, and food-borne pathogens and promote resilience to disasters, including recovery from COVID-19 by investing in resilient livestock production and food systems and addressing risk transmission pathways to human health from animal health (domestic and wildlife) and environmental changes including from climate change. The project will also focus on the empowerment of the vulnerable and women and improved nutritional outcomes for the disadvantaged and rural poor including ethnic minorities.