Livestock contributes to the sustainable livelihoods and security of more than 800 million poor smallholder farmers. It offers poor households sources of high quality nutrition, especially for pregnant women and for improving the cognitive skills and mental growth of children. In marginal rural areas, where poverty is rampant, livestock represents an important asset for local cultural and socioeconomic systems, and allows the effective use of otherwise unutilizable resources. In working with rural communities and pastoralists, our aim is to develop a sustainable livestock sector where smallholder farmers can have higher incomes and better access to services, technologies and markets.

The Share Fair sessions will provide the participants an opportunity to:

• learn about new livestock technologies and approaches
• discuss innovative approaches to target nomadic communities
• explore the benefits of livestock
• development revolving funds

Rural family poultry makes a substantial contribution to food security, poverty alleviation and gender empowerment in many countries around the world. During this session the presenters will share how by adopting low costs innovative technologies in the  poultry sector, it is possible to enable poor rural people to raise their incomes and strengthen their resilience. The importance of supporting field adaptation and adoption of selected innovations and good practices which can easily be scaled up will be discussed. Participants will learn about examples of low-tech mini-hatcheries functioning without electricity, how to protecting baskets for chicks, improved alternative feeding techniques and vaccination against Newcastle disease.

Antonio Rota, Olaf Thieme
IFAD, FAO