BQI Beacon: Issue #2

Issue 2 covers these topics: 1) Global poultry genetics companies' power in Africa. 2) Diets in LMICs shaped by complex food environment. 3) Tradeoffs required to make livestock systems climate-friendly. 4) Asian industrial broiler production's wide range of problems. 5) EU food strategies can improve LMICs' animal welfare. 6) Tactics to sell industrial chicken products in Guatemala. 7) Egypt's poultry industry harbors avian flu and gets subsidies. 8) Problematic claims made by dairy companies in China.

Academic works featured and their key messages

1. Goga, Samayya, and Simon Roberts. “Multinationals and competition in poultry value chains in South Africa, Zambia, and Malawi.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Lack of competition in global poultry genetics gives multinational companies outsize power in Africa, harming small-scale producers.

2. Gupta, Neha, et al. “Food environment framework in low- and middle-income countries – An integrative review.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Eating behaviors in LMICs are influenced by many factors in addition to what is affordable, convenient, and tastes good.

3. Bonilla-Cedrez, et al. “Priority areas for investment in more sustainable and climate-resilient livestock systems.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Livestock systems can be made more climate-friendly and resilient. Doing so will require difficult choices and a deep understanding of specific contexts.

4. Mahanty, Sango, et al. “A policy and research agenda for Asia’s poultry industry.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: To address the full range of problems caused by industrial poultry production in Asia, one needs to look beyond the gates of factory farms.

5. Molitorisová, Alexandra, and Ciarán Burke. “Farm to Fork strategy: Animal welfare, EU trade policy, and public participation.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Public participation, including that of stakeholders from LMICs, is key to taking full advantage of new EU 2020 food strategies to improve farm animal welfare worldwide.

6. Chuvileva, Yulia, et al. “Selling industrial 'gallina criolla' products in Guatemala: Implications for consumers, producers, heritage, and biodiversity.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Corporations in Guatemala market industrial chicken products as coming from peasant and indigenous chickens (gallina criolla) favored by consumers.

7. Dixon, Marion W. “Eek! What the chick: Addressing the issues of industrial poultry in Egypt.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Egypt's poultry industry plays important role in the country's avian flu outbreaks and benefits from government food subsidy system.

8. Howard, Philip H. “The politics of milk: Examining claims about dairy in China.”

   KEY TAKEAWAY: Huge growth in dairy production and consumption in China owes a lot to powerful but problematic claims from dairy industry.

Brief mention (non-academic reports)

1. FAO. “Contribution of Pathways towards lower emissions. . . .”
2. FAO. “Achieving SDG 2 without breaching the 1.5 °C threshold: A global roadmap, Part 1. . . .”