ECO-EFFICIENCY IN ANIMAL PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY IN THE PRODUCTION OF CATTLE AND CHICKEN

Abstract

Animal protein is of great importance in the food production chain and human food security, but its production process has negative impacts on the environment, such as the generation of greenhouse gases, use of agricultural land, deforestation to open new areas and food consumption that could be directed to human consumption. The objective of this work is to measure the amount of edible food for humans that is used as feed to produce 1 kg of beef and poultry meat under confinement conditions, in systems typical of the state of São Paulo and from this information discuss sustainability of the sector. In the present work it was found that to produce 1 kg of boneless chicken meat it is necessary 2.18 kg of edible food for humans and that to produce 1 kg of boneless beef meat it is necessary 4.67 kg of edible food for humans. Although the results indicate that the consumption of chicken meat is more environmentally friendly and monogastric animals are more efficient in feed conversion than ruminants, 92% of the animal feed provided for birds could be used for human consumption and only 19% of the feed animal supplied for cattle could be used for human consumption.