The Politics of Livestock Sector Policy and the Rural Poor in Bolivia

This is the fifteenth of a series of Working Papers prepared for the Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Iniciative (PPLPI). The purpuse of these papers is to explore issues related to livestock development in the context of poverty alleviation.
Livestock is vital to the economies of many developing countries. Animals are a source of food, more specifically protein for human diets, income, employment and possibly foreign exchange. For low income producers, livestock can serve as a store of wealth, provide draught power and organic fertiliser for crop production and a means of transport. Consumption of livestock and livestock products in developing countries, trough starting from a low base, is growing rapidly.
This paper presents a case study of how livestock policies are made and implemented in a national context, and how they can be improved to better serve the interests of the poor. It seems that good opportunities for improving rural livelihoods in Bolivia through livestock policy are to be found in the camelid sector.