Livestock Feeds into Human Foods

Abstract

The standard of living of a community is reflected in its quantitative consumption of protective foods and animal products of high biological value because they contribute, not only essential amino acids lacking from vegetable proteins, but because their consumption usually runs parallel to the intake of the vitamin B complex. Over much of East Africa, conditions of subsistence peasant farming persist on soils of reduced fertility, and arable land utilization is then directed towards the production of energy-forming diets, which are often deficient in proteins, minerals and vitamins. Population increases are creating greater demands for food, and many exhausted lands are being kept in cultivation whilst new, and often unsuitable, marginal areas are being broken. For sociological reasons, the African desires large numbers of stock, irrespective of their productivity, and so in congested areas these rival claims can lead to acute problems in land usage.