The III Global Feed & Food Congress in Cancun will be the world feed industry's most significant event in 2010. Hosted by the Mexican Feed Manufacturers Association, CONAFAB, it is being organised by the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) with technical participation from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Samuel Jutzi, Director of FAO's Animal Production and Health Division, has accepted an invitation from the organisers to speak in the plenary session of the congress. Dr Jutzi will use the occasion to present 'Livestock in the Balance', the latest in the annual State of Food and Agriculture series of reports from FAO and the first since 1982 to have livestock as its theme.

This flagship report says that world meat production is expected to rise from its present level of 228 million tonnes per year to reach 463 million tonnes annually by 2050, in order to satisfy the growing demand.

Livestock contribute 40 per cent of the global value of agricultural output and support the livelihoods and food security of almost a billion people, Dr Jutzi will tell the Congress in Cancun. Rapidly rising incomes and urbanization, combined with underlying population growth, are driving demand for meat and other animal products in many developing countries.

But he will warn that these changes – and the speed at which they are occurring – have created systemic risks for livelihoods, for human and animal health and for the environment. To meet the challenges and constraints of the 21st century, the livestock sector requires appropriate institutions, research, development interventions and governance that reflect the diversity within the sector and the multiple demands placed upon it.

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