Livestock in India (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

One of the fastest growing subsectors in agriculture–livestock–can significantly contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if the opportunities it offers, especially for people in developing countries, are harnessed for economic growth, improved livelihoods and food and nutritional security.

Shirley Tarawali, assistant director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), says that over the next few decades, smallholder food producers of developing countries, who today produce most of the livestock products bought and consumed in developing countries, can not only help meet the SDGs but can also help meet their countries’ rising demand for milk, meat and eggs.

Five of world’s top six commodities in terms of commercial value are animal-source foods, which are worth over USD700 billion annually and there is increasing demand for them in developing countries.

Speaking at a seminar co-hosted by the Texas A&M College of Veterinary…