By XinhuaÂ
Lusaka : The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that large-scale industrial livestock production which focuses on a limited range of breeds is a threat to global farm animal diversity.
    According to a new report entitled "the state of the world's animal genetic resources for food and agriculture" presented to the FAO at a meeting of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the skyrocketing global demand for meat, milk and eggs have led to the heavy reliance on animal which have been intensively bred.
    FAO assistant director-general Alexander Muller characterized the report as a wake-up call to the world, and stressed the need to boost the global food supply by maintaining and deploying a wide array of genetic resources, which are vital and irreplaceable. The report said that one breed of livestock has become extinct every month over the past seven years, and 20 percent of the world's cattle, goat, pig, horse and poultry breeds are in danger of extinction.
    It said that the developing world will be the main site of breed diversity loss in this century.
    The report called for improved conservation program to prevent the crowding out of local breeds and for investments in personnel and technical facilities to effectively manage the problem.