Consumers are increasingly aware of farming practices, including animal welfare and product quality issues, on the other hand markets are subject to stricter food quality standards that include elements of labeling and traceability. Moreover, meats and feeds markets have been severely affected by animal disease outbreaks. Under these circumstances, the common aim for farmers is to improve their income by means of fair and equitable conditions for production and trade. Farmers take a professional approach to commercial farming and consider ethical issues seriously and this is a message that consumers need to understand. Developing countries are facing several challenges in the livestock and feed sector. This includes meeting international standards for livestock and addressing the impact of import of meat products within domestic markets.

Established in 1963, the IFAP Group on Meats and Feeds adopted a World Meat Producers’ Charter in 1979. In October 1986, it held the first World Meats Producers’ Conference in Denver, USA. Since then the group is meeting regularly. The last meeting took place in Dublin (Ireland) in July 2009 and the next will be held in Alger in May 2010 during the IFAP World Farmers Congress.
Access and availability of markets, animal health, quality and traceability labeling and food safety are among the issues of importance to IFAP member organizations. In addition, the profitability of the sector and the influence of climatic change, droughts and fair trade are continuous issues being discussed within the group.

Since the 1970s, the international prices of commodities have declined and both farmers in developing countries as well as developed countries have suffered from that. In particular, the reduction of agricultural commodity prices in developing countries is one of the biggest causes of poverty, especially in African countries. This is due to their high dependency on a limited number of commodities.

The main challenge for farmers is how to get a better price in international markets. This price collapse is generally characterized by an oversupply and therefore would imply long-term solutions to address supply-demand management, inherent price volatility, high degrees of market concentration and a development-friendly outcome to the WTO negotiations (in particular addressing tariff escalation and export subsidies issues). These responses could be efficient if only in the meantime at national level, diversification is promoted in most of commodities dependent countries.
Aims of the meats and feeds group are:

• Respond to the needs of IFAP’s members based on the recommendations made by the last Meats and feeds group as well as other identified challenges in commodities markets.
• Ensure that farmers are fully involved in the on-going debates on long-term solutions of problems in the Meats and feeds markets.
• Seek to strengthen its collaboration with specialised commodities organizations as well as international organizations (such as the International Meat Secretariat and the World Organization for Animal Health), research institutes and non-governmental organisations.
• Ensure that relevant information on meats and feeds is available to all members and that the Group would serve as a platform for discussion and information sharing among members.