title: LivestockPlus: Forages, sustainable intensification, and food security in the tropics.
abstract: The increased use of grain-based feed for livestock during the last two decades has contributed, along with other factors, to a rise in grain prices that has reduced human food security. This circumstance argues for feeding more forages to livestock, particularly in the tropics where many livestock are reared on small farms. Efforts to accomplish this end, referred to as the 'LivestockPlus' approach, intensify in sustainable ways the management of grasses, shrubs, trees, and animals. By decoupling the human food and livestock feed systems, these efforts would increase the resilience of the global food system. Effective LivestockPlus approaches take one of two forms: (1) simple improvements such as new forage varieties and animal management practices that spread from farmer to farmer by word of mouth, or (2) complex sets of new practices that integrate forage production more closely into farms' other agricultural activities and agro-ecologies.
authors.affiliation: , 55 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA. rudel@aesop.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Rudel
authors.affiliation: International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 823-00621, Nairobi, Kenya. b.paul@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Birthe
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Research for Development and Conservation, Burlington, VT, USA. dwhite.r4dc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: , Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo, 6713, Cali, Colombia. i.rao@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: , Residencial Los Robles de San Juan, Casa #303, Apartado Postal LM-172, Managua, Nicaragua. r.vanderhoek@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Rein
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Van Der Hoek
authors.affiliation: , Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo, 6713, Cali, Colombia. a.castro@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Aracely
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Domaine Duclos, Prise d'eau, 97170, Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, France. maryline.boval@antilles.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Maryline
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boval
authors.affiliation: Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA. amy.lerner@princeton.edu.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lerner
authors.affiliation: , 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA. laschnei@rci.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: , Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo, 6713, Cali, Colombia. m.peters@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peters
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000254:growth & development; D005523:Food Supply / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D058751:Livestock / Q000502:physiology*; D000069600:Plant Breeding
keywords: Forages; Livestock; Livestock plus; Sustainable intensification; Tropics