African governments have been called upon to promote sustainable and humane animal production systems to promote climate restoration. Dr. Victor Yamo, The Farming Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection (WAP) said there has been rapid increase in global population and increasing demand for animal products in Africa, coupled with increasing affluence, which has led to a surge in demand for animal products. Speaking during 2nd Africa Protein Summit organized by World Animal Protection, Yamo said that while the intensification of livestock production may be popular to meet this growing demand, it is associated with significant negative consequences such as animal abuse, water and environmental pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and increased greenhouse gas emissions and thus it is not a sustainable method of food production. The two-day protein summit highlighted the urgent need to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of intensive livestock production systems and emphasized the importance of preserving traditional, resilient and humane production systems that support small-scale farmers in the region. Numerous negative impacts associated with intensive livestock production systems including compromised animal welfare, public health concerns and adverse effects on the environment and climate such as increased greenhouse gas emissions through deforestation for animal feed production and high fertilizer use, were highlighted. According to the experts, the excessive nutrient excretion from overfed animals further contributes to higher emissions and these negative externalities are often overlooked, particularly in developing nations striving to combat poverty and achieve food security. The stakeholders urged governments to protect small holder livestock producers by empowering them with animal husbandry knowledge and skills, while providing them with timely climate information and early warning systems to stay competitive in the market. Governments were further asked to increase awareness on alternative protein sources that can be used to meet nutrition requirements, while directing resources towards awareness creation to achieve attitude and behaviour change from intensive meat consumption to alternative protein sources. ‘There is a need to adopt technology to bridge the divide in the animal protein value chain and African governments should prioritize sustainable and humane animal production systems in order to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of intensive livestock production,’ Yamo said. He added that African governments need to bring stakeholders together to create a policy statement on sustainable agricultural production and also food systems actors be engaged in a dialogue towards a humane and sustainable food system. Participants in the summit agreed that the adoption of sustainable practices and technology in Africa’s animal protein production will pave the way for a sustainable future in the continent.
Source: Kenya News Agency