Livestock Systems

Our Approach

More than 1.3 billion people worldwide depend on livestock to sustain their livelihoods. The livestock sector also offers many benefits across various scales of production — from smallholder farms right through to consumers — and plays a wider role in the sustainable transformation of food systems. That’s why we prioritize developing innovative solutions to livestock-related challenges that take maximize sustainable, efficient approaches to livestock production. We work directly with farmers and producers to improve their productivity and promote commercial investment.  

We excel at our work in dairy — but we also are known for our work with poultry, cattle, goats, sheep pigs, and fish. That’s because we recognize the value in working across diverse livestock value chains to promote climate resilience and social inclusion. For example, in Zambia and Tanzania we support women and youth poultry breeders and vendors to boost their businesses, while improving consumers’ access to poultry meat and eggs. We also know that diverse diets that incorporate animal-sourced foods can improve nutrition. With this in mind, we help households increase their consumption of safe, quality, diverse, and nutrient-rich foods. Our programs promote evidence-based social and behavior change strategies across production, marketing, and nutrition interventions.