The Benefits of Improving Animal Welfare from the Perspective of Livestock Stakeholders across Asia

Abstract

In this study, 17 focus group meetings were held with livestock industry leaders in geographically dispersed areas of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Bangladesh, regarding animal welfare issues, potential solutions and attitudes. Livestock leaders were asked ‘what do you see as the benefits to improving animal welfare’ and later to discuss the potential benefits and rank them according to their associated importance. While differences existed by country, the most important perceived benefit area across all countries was financial in nature, primarily focussed on the potential to increase the productive output of the animals and to improve meat and product quality. However, doubt existed around the ability to increase profit against the cost of improving animal welfare, particularly in China. Human health benefits and the tie to human welfare and community livelihood were considered most important in India and Bangladesh, and animal-focussed benefits were not significant in any countries, except India and, to a lesser extent, Bangladesh. Thus, improving animal welfare for the sake of the animals is unlikely to be a compelling argument. The results presented here can be used to create meaningful mutual ground between those that advocate improvement of animal welfare and the stakeholders that have the ability to implement it, i.e., the livestock industry.

Farm Animal Welfare Science in China—A Bibliometric Review of Chinese Literature

“…The areas that received most attention within the compiled Chinese literature indicate a focus on animal welfare tied to improving production, yield, agricultural sustainability and biosecurity, rather than for improving or understanding welfare for the animals' sake. Livestock leaders in Guangzhou, Beijing and Zhengzhou asked about the most important benefits of addressing animal welfare [5] attested that good welfare improves productivity of the animals, quality of products (including taste) and increased trade opportunities [5]. When the same livestock leaders were asked what they saw as the solutions for improving animal welfare in China they stated that, in addition to creating prescriptive standards, a focus on the business benefits of improving welfare was needed [21].…”

“…The concept of good welfare for animals is linked to the wider Chinese concept of 'ecological agriculture'; providing animals with improved health, nutrition and natural conditions that encourage increased productivity, increased profit, as well as being perceived to improve product quality, including taste [5]. Some Chinese livestock companies, such as Guangdong Dexing, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, Shandong Tuhe Food Co. Ltd and BenLai Group, have responded to the increase in concern for animal welfare by focusing efforts on the supply of products with improved welfare policies [6][7][8][9].…”

Livestock Stakeholder Willingness to Embrace Preslaughter Stunning in Key Asian Countries

“…The importance of considering community and livelihood in India was indicated with regard to stunning in this study, with both ‘community’ and ‘livelihood’ appearing in the most frequent words in this analysis (Table 3) see also [31].…”

Asian Livestock Industry Leaders’ Perceptions of the Importance of, and Solutions for, Animal Welfare Issues

“…The remainder of the session content focussed on the benefits to improving welfare, willingness to embrace pre-slaughter stunning, and, pursuant to our earlier surveys, achieving a better understanding of the motivators to seek to improve animal welfare [10,11,12,13,16,17].…”

“…The importance to finding mutual benefits (or ‘mutual gains’) with stakeholders has been presented in an international development context [14,15] and in the context of animal welfare [16]. Further to that, the nature of the perceived benefits for livestock holders, if they improve the welfare of the livestock, has also recently been explored [17]. Understanding livestock stakeholders’ perceptions of different animal welfare issues, and stakeholder-initiated solutions or opportunities to improve animal welfare, has not yet been researched, particularly not in the context of Asian countries.…”