Does the Trade of Livestock Products Enhance Micro-Nutrient Availability While Minimizing Environmental Impact?

Xia Liu, Qianqian Li, Ling Liu and Zhaohai Bai ()
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Xia Liu: School of Mathematics and Science, Hebei GEO University, 136 Huai’an Road, Shijiazhuang 050031, China
Qianqian Li: School of Mathematics and Science, Hebei GEO University, 136 Huai’an Road, Shijiazhuang 050031, China
Ling Liu: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China
Zhaohai Bai: Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, 286 Huaizhong Road, Shijiazhuang 050021, China

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Providing sufficient, high-quality food without compromising efforts in climate change and environmental pollution control is a long-term imperative for humanity. Livestock product trade may help bridge the gap in micro-nutrient supply; however, its potential environmental impacts remain underexplored. Using data from 200 countries and 77 different livestock commodities from 1961 to 2019, this study uncovers the impact of livestock trade on micro-nutrient productivity per livestock unit and per feed nitrogen input. Our results indicate that livestock trade has improved productivity for all seven studied micro-nutrients over the past 59 years, except for vitamin A. This improvement has led to a substantial reduction in the number of livestock units and feed nitrogen requirements needed to deliver the same amount of micro-nutrients, thereby reducing related greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen losses globally. Generally, livestock trade has become more optimal and functional in terms of livestock productivity and feed use efficiency, particularly in the most recent decade, although there were slight differences between various micro-nutrients. We recommend continuing and potentially increasing international livestock trade, given the higher efficiency gap between exporting and importing countries; however, this should be structured more appropriately.

Keywords: micro-nutrients; livestock; environmental; trade; optimality; feed; productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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