REPORT: Engaging Academics in Efforts to Counter the Growth of Factory Farming in Africa

Brighter Green  (2021) Engaging Academics in Efforts to Counter the Growth of Factory Farming in Africa 18 p.

GROWING GLOBAL CONSENSUS is emerging that industrial agriculture must be curbed in order to protect animals, ecosystems, and Earth’s climate. However, few comprehensive efforts are underway in sub-Saharan Africa to challenge a factory farm– centric model of agricultural development and to promote sustainable food systems. While industrial livestock production in Africa has not reached the scale of the United States, in other Western nations, and Asia and Latin America, it is growing. 

This puts advocates, researchers, and policymakers in a critical position to reverse the trend before the industry reaches or even approaches the levels seen in other regions. 

Brighter Green took on a 10-month long project to engage academics and researchers in sub-Saharan Africa in discourse and policy debates in order to challenge the factory farm–centric model of agricultural development. 

While limited published research exists specifically about the detrimental impacts of factory farming in Africa, there is significant interest among academics and advocates about adjacent topics, such as the effectiveness of methods that may be considered alternatives to factory farming. These include organic agriculture, agroecology, traditional or pastoral farming, and the use of livestock for household poverty reduction and wealth creation. 

Academics engaged with concur that centering African culture, traditional methods, landscapes, and climate realities in order to combat factory farming and create solutions and alternatives is essential.

• Notes from the May 20th, 2021 webinar: The Impacts of Industrial Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Annotated Bibliography_FAI Grant

Related PAEPARD blogpost: 20/02/2021. WEBINAR: The Impacts of Industrial Animal Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa