Animal source foods, such as milk, dairy products, eggs, fish and meat, are important sources of nutrition and their production and processing supports the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers, traders, retailers and other value chain actors (many of them women) while providing cheap and nutritious food to large numbers of poor consumers. In India as many other countries, the informal sector predominates: for example, the informal share of the dairy sector (the largest in the world) is 80%.
On 8 February 2011, the International Livestock Research Institute organized an informal meeting with partners in India to discuss the roles of agricultural research in understanding the present importance and possible evolution of the informal sector as well as in developing and testing interventions so that food systems can work better for poor people and the planet.