Global assessment of natural resources for chicken production

Abstract

The poultry industry plays an important role in meat production/supply, with a growth rate of more than 4% p.a. in the last few years. This white meat production requires a large amount of feed that increases competition in the use of natural resources for primary food and other uses. Grains are the primary source of poultry nutrition and oilseeds are the most common protein source, with maize, wheat, and soybean being the most common ingredients in poultry diets. It is not clear to what extent natural resources are used to produce these feed crops and what the impact is of the resulting pressure on the availability of natural resources for other uses. The study evaluates and quantifies the local feed availability and the associated amount of local and non-local land and water resources required for the poultry production worldwide at a country and region scale as of 2016, including a detailed global feed trade analysis for the top poultry producer countries. Country-specific diets were used for the ten largest producer countries and two simplified diets for the global scale. The feed amounts were converted in land and water demand using crop-specific yields and a phisically based and spatially distributed hydrological model. The findings showed that 49 Mha of cereals (37 Mha local) and 64 Mha of soybean (25 Mha local) are needed to feed chickens globally, together with approximately 441 km3 of green water (197 km3 and 244 km3 for cereals and soybean, respectively) and 52 km3 of blue water (27 km3 and 25 km3, respectively) required by these feed crops in 2016. However, significant amounts of natural resources are saved through the international feed trade. The results obtained suggest the need for more sustainable approaches to address future projections in the sector.