Poverty is widespread in Africa, but the continent is fast growing, with the consumption of animal protein skyrocketing, in particular for relatively low-value, low-processed livestock products. Meanwhile, in rural areas, the majority of households are livestock keepers, many of whom are poor. This growth in demand for animal protein can provide major business opportunities for livestock producers, with implications for poverty reduction. While there is heterogeneity among livestock keepers, clustering them into homogenous groups is useful to guide policy and investment decisions that stimulate a market-driven and inclusive growth of the sector. A small share of livestock keepers, from between 5 to 20 percent, depending on the country, can be considered business-oriented with incentives to expand their livestock production and tap into the growing market for animal protein. These keep relative large herds and derive a significant share of their cash income from accessing and utilizing livestock markets. The remainder of livestock keepers can be defined as livelihood-oriented: they keep animals more for the many livelihoods services they provide - such as insurance, manure and hauling services - than for selling meat, milk and other livestock products to the market. The reason is simple: on average, they keep 1.60 Tropical Livestock Units (TLUs), which is equivalent to about three beef cattle per household or about 0.6 TLU per household member, and, therefore, they cannot derive large benefits from regularly selling their surplus production to the market. Policies and investments aimed at enhancing the contribution of livestock to economic growth and poverty reduction should consequently adopt a dual strategy of targeting livelihood-oriented and business-oriented livestock keepers, who have diverse incentives to keep animals. There are, however, major information gaps which constrain the formulation of effective policy and investment decisions.

This Sourcebook summarizes the outputs and lessons of the 'Livestock in Africa: Improving Data for Better Policies' Project. It aims to present the challenges facing professionals collecting and analysing livestock data and statistics and possible solutions. While the Sourcebook does not address all conceivable issues related to enhancing livestock data and underlining statistical issues, it does represent a unique document for a number of reasons. To begin with, it is possibly the first document which specifically addresses the broad complexity of livestock data collection, taking into consideration the unique characteristics of the sector. Indeed, in most cases livestock data are dealt with, if ever, within the context of major agricultural initiatives. Second, the Sourcebook is a joint product of users and suppliers of livestock data, with its overarching objective being to respond to the information needs of data users, and primarily the Ministries responsible for livestock in African countries and the National Statistical Authorities. Finally, the Sourcebook represents a unique experiment of inter-institutional collaboration, which jointly places the World Bank, the FAO Animal Production and Health Division, the ILRI and the Africa Union - Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources as well as national governments in Niger, Tanzania and Uganda at the forefront of data and statistical innovation for evidence-based livestock sector policies and investments. This Sourcebook represents a first step towards a demand-driven and sustainable approach to enhance the livestock information available to decision makers. It is hoped it will provide a useable framework for significantly improving the quantity and quality of livestock data and statistics available to the public and private sector, and also increase the efficacy of investments that country governments and the international community allocate to generate information for livestock sector policies and investments.