Livestock Research for Rural Development, Volume 34, Number 1, January 2022

ISSN 0121-3784

Editorial

Global warming and ecological decay are directly linked to the dominance of soybean and maize in feeding systems of pigs and poultry. Increased deforestation in exporting countries for planting the crops and expanded ocean freight to transport them to consumers are major drivers of global warming. Small and medium-scale farms in importing countries face increased costs as they are not equipped with the infrastructure to accommodate bulk delivery, storage and processing of the imported raw materials. The purpose of this position paper is to draw attention to the opportunities presented by tropical ecosystems to produce local alternatives to maize and soybean. Special attention is given to using indigenous plants of the Araceae family (Taro in Asia and Bore in Latin-America) as complete feeds for indigenous breeds of pigs that adapt readily to consuming plants that are native to the environments in which they themselves evolved.