Assessing Livestock Production Practices on Small-Scale Multi-Species Farms Located on Floreana Island, Galápagos Islands

Abstract

Globally to date, established international standards for animal welfare, a priority of sustainable agriculture, have primarily focused on large-scale producers. However, across Latin America, including in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, smallholder farms play a critical role in food safety and security. We assessed five basic animal welfare measures (feed and water access, shelter availability and housing systems, animal health management, animal behavior, and timely euthanasia) for poultry, pigs, and cattle on Floreana Island, Galápagos. Utilizing assessment standards from multiple US sources and international standards, we developed a questionnaire and used it to conduct in-depth interviews during 4–5 July 2022 with eight participating producers, representing 75% of animal agriculture on Floreana. While we identified opportunities to enhance competencies in animal health management and timely euthanasia, farms performed well in the other assessed measures. Future work should promote knowledge transfer and in-country capacity building in farm biosecurity, access to veterinary care, antimicrobial resistance surveillance, and euthanasia methods. Efforts to positively impact smallholder farm livelihoods in Galápagos—one of the most biodiverse and protected ecosystems on the planet—will sustainably support human health through the interconnected realms of animal health and welfare, wildlife and environmental health, and food safety and security.