{"id":40563,"date":"2025-04-07T19:31:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=40563"},"modified":"2025-04-07T19:32:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:02:00","slug":"future-antibiotics-livestock-fao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-04-2025\/future-antibiotics-livestock-fao","title":{"rendered":"Future of Antibiotic Use in Livestock: FAO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Agriculture; Livestock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A recent study by the <strong>Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) <\/strong>projects that <strong>global antibiotic use in livestock could increase by 30% by 2040<\/strong>, highlighting the urgent need for interventions to curb this trend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Use of Antibiotics in Livestocks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Antibiotics are used for treating infections, and as growth promoters and preventive agents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture have accelerated the development of drug-resistant bacteria, posing risks to both animal and human health.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>AMR could make common infections harder to treat, increasing healthcare costs and mortality rates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>WHO called it a <strong>\u2018silent pandemic\u2019<\/strong>, as it poses a serious risk of exacerbating antimicrobial resistance, whereby bacteria evolve to resist antibiotic treatment.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Drug-resistant infections already cause over 1.2 million deaths globally each year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antibiotic use in livestock is expected to rise from 110,777 tons in 2019 to 143,481 tons by 2040, representing a 29.5% increase.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Key geographic regions are:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Asia and the Pacific Region: 64.6%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>South America: 19%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Africa: 5.7%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>North America: 5.5% and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Europe: 5.2%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Role of Antibiotics in Livestock<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Therapeutic Use:<\/strong> Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections in animals, ensuring their health and productivity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Preventive Use:<\/strong> Prophylactic administration of antibiotics helps prevent diseases in healthy animals, particularly in intensive farming systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Growth Promotion:<\/strong> In some regions, antibiotics are used to enhance growth rates and feed efficiency, although this practice is increasingly discouraged globally.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Drivers Behind the Surge<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Intensive Farming Systems: <\/strong>Large-scale industrial farms often rely on antibiotics to maintain animal health in crowded, high-stress environments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regulatory Gaps:<\/strong> Many countries lack strict guidelines on antibiotic usage in animals, or fail to enforce them effectively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Overuse of Antibiotics as Growth Promoters<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> Antibiotics can help animals grow faster and survive poor conditions, making them economically attractive in intensive systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Trade and Movement:<\/strong> International trade in livestock, meat products, and feed can spread resistant strains across borders.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes can spread through mobile genetic elements like plasmids.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Policies and Commitments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>UN General Assembly AMR Declaration (2024):<\/strong> Governments worldwide have pledged to reduce antimicrobial use in agrifood systems by 30\u201350% by 2030.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>UNGA recognizes AMR as a major challenge to human health, food security, economic development, and global stability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>RENOFARM Initiative:<\/strong> It was launched by FAO, providing policy guidance and technical assistance to help countries curb antibiotic use.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>One Health Approach: <\/strong>It integrates human, animal, and environmental health \u2014 to address the issue of AMR, as emphasised by FAO, WHO and the <strong>World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Optimizing Livestock Productivity:<\/strong> Improving animal health, management practices, and production efficiency could cut antibiotic use by up to 57%.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Investing in vaccination programs, biosecurity measures, and improved animal nutrition can reduce the need for antibiotics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s National Action Plan on AMR:<\/strong> It aims to reduce antibiotic dependency in agriculture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Standard Veterinary Treatment Guidelines (SVTG):<\/strong> It was introduced by the <strong>Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry <\/strong>to regulate the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry while incorporating Ayurvedic and ethnoveterinary practices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/agriculture\/antibiotic-usage-in-livestock-use-to-rise-by-30-by-2040-interventions-needed-fao\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: DTE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) projects that global antibiotic use in livestock could increase by 30% by 2040, highlighting the urgent need for interventions to curb this trend.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Use of Antibiotics in Livestocks<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Antibiotics are used for treating infections, and as growth promoters and preventive agents.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture have accelerated the development of drug-resistant bacteria, posing risks to both animal and human health.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-04-2025\/future-antibiotics-livestock-fao\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40577,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40563\/revisions\/40577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}