The diet problem, nutrient supply, and the cost of diversity applied to livestock feeds

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dc.creatorKomarek, Adam M.
dc.creatorRobinson, Sherman
dc.creatorMason-D'Croz, Daniel
dc.date2018-12-20
dc.date2024-06-21T09:05:16Z
dc.date2024-06-21T09:05:16Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T15:46:12Z
dc.descriptionThis study investigates the cost of increasing production diversity for a livestock producer who minimizes the cost of supplying nutrients to animals, a problem comparable to the “diet problem”. Although researchers have extensively studied the benefits of diversity, the explicit cost of diversity remains understudied. Our approach combines a nonlinear programming model and a cross-entropy measure using an index for diversity proposed by Henri Theil that incorporates observed commodity mixes and a uniform prior based on information theory. The diversity index is comparable across countries. We provide an example from all 135 countries across the globe where feed rations for beef cattle contain cereal grains, considering prices with and without climate change. The marginal cost of an extra unit of diversity in the observed feed ration ranges across countries from $4 to $158 (average $25), compared to an average total production cost of $220 per ton of cereal grain. The marginal cost of diversity is lower in higher income countries than lower income countries. Changing the diversity index that we developed for different contexts, such as a count index for human dietary diversity, would mean researchers could apply our approach to the diet problem for humans.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/145880
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/114095
dc.languageen
dc.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Institute
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceKomarek, Adam M.; Robinson, Sherman; and Mason-D'Croz, Daniel. 2018. The diet problem, nutrient supply, and the cost of diversity applied to livestock feeds. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1780. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145880
dc.subjectmathematical models
dc.subjectlivestock feeding
dc.subjectentropy
dc.subjectproduction costs
dc.subjectlivestock
dc.subjectdiet quality
dc.subjecttotal costs
dc.subjectdiet
dc.subjectdiversification
dc.subjectnutritional requirements
dc.titleThe diet problem, nutrient supply, and the cost of diversity applied to livestock feeds
dc.typeWorking Paper

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Instituto Internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas Alimentarias (IFPRI)