Strengthening Livestock Systems through Climate-Smart and Gender-Sensitive Approaches

18 January 2023. Panel discussion featuring Feed the Future efforts to strengthen animal feed, fodder and forage production and feeding approaches as a major solution for the climate crisis and women’s empowerment. 

The panelists described success stories in their respective programs, highlighting how increasing feed efficiency for livestock is a climate-smart technique that can also lead to increased agency for female livestock keepers in Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMIC). 

The trajectory of the livestock sector’s growth can be changed by investing in sustainable intensification and climate-smart strategies to increase productivity. This has the potential to increase the resilience of those most vulnerable to climate impacts and decrease greenhouse gas emissions intensity per unit of nutritious food produced. Furthermore, investing in women-inclusive livestock production in LMIC will lead to more economically and climate-resilient agricultural systems, increased availability of nutritionally rich animal source foods in vulnerable communities and restored ecosystems globally. From Burkina Faso to Kenya to Bangladesh, these programs have shown that investing in climate-smart livestock-rearing practices can lead to both decreased methane emissions intensity and increased climate risk mitigation for women.