Factory farming in Africa: development banks see it as a good idea, but it’s bad for the climate

In sub-Saharan Africa, pastoral livestock farming – where cattle, goats and sheep roam freely across grasslands, grazing at will – has been the main form of livestock production. It has been a source of livelihoods for centuries, if not millennia.

But now, industrialised, mass livestock farming – factory farming – is being increasingly funded by development banks.

This is a problem because factory farming is a high-emissions method of producing livestock. Once funds are poured into this, it becomes expensive to move away to climate-friendly farming.