Africa Reframes Global Food Debate Around Livestock and Equity
Posted by JIM MWANDA
A landmark global food report is reshaping Africa’s nutrition and sustainability agenda. Experts at an ILRI dialogue in Nairobi stress that livestock remains vital for food security, health, and livelihoods calling for Africa-specific strategies to align global goals with local realities.
Nairobi Kenya
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In Summary:
A new global food report has reignited debate on how Africa can balance nutrition, livelihoods, and environmental sustainability. While the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission calls for reducing red meat and sugar consumption worldwide, African experts insist that livestock remains indispensable to both rural economies and food security. A regional dialogue hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi underscored the need for African-led strategies that align global goals with local realities.
A landmark scientific report is reshaping how Africa thinks about food. The 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems, released in early October -has offered the most comprehensive blueprint yet for transforming the world’s food systems. It calls for major dietary shifts, including a global reduction in red meat and sugar consumption, while urging a doubling of fruit, vegetable, and legume intake by 2050. But the report’s most striking revelation is its acknowledgment of inequality: the richest 30 percent of the world’s population generates over 70 percent of the environmental pressure from food systems, while large parts of Africa remain far below nutrition thresholds.
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This finding has reshaped the conversation in Africa, where livestock supports up to 70 percent of rural households and serves as the backbone of livelihoods, nutrition, and resilience. Experts meeting at ILRI’s Nairobi campus agreed that while sustainability is crucial, the continent’s nutritional and economic context demands a more tailored approach.
“Universal dietary prescriptions must be adapted to local contexts,” emphasized moderator Shirley Tarawali, ILRI’s Assistant Director General.
“For many in Africa, moderate amounts of animal-sourced foods are not luxuries rather they are essential for growth, health, and livelihoods.”
The dialogue drew policymakers, researchers, and producers from across the continent to translate global findings into practical regional actions. Participants discussed Africa’s dual challenge: addressing undernutrition among vulnerable groups while tackling the rise of non-communicable diseases driven by urbanization and lifestyle changes. Dr. Zipporah Bukania, Director at Kenya Medical Research Institute’s Centre for Public Health Research, warned that while policies exist, “implementation remains a problem.” She shared success stories from community health kiosks in rural areas, where early detection of diet-related diseases has begun changing health outcomes.
At the same time, African livestock producers defended the sector’s critical role in sustainable food systems. Patrick Kimani, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Livestock Producers Association, described global calls to cut meat consumption as “misplaced” when applied to African realities.
“Protein from milk, eggs, and meat cannot be matched from plant-based foods,” he said, noting that in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid landswhich make up 60 percent of the country livestock remains the only viable livelihood.
Researchers are also turning to indigenous knowledge and traditional food systems as part of the solution. Dr. Kipkemboi Changwony, Director of Livestock Systems at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), highlighted ongoing efforts to revive and improve local breeds and indigenous crops.
“We are rethinking indigenous foods not just as cultural heritage, but as climate-smart, nutritious, and accessible options for local farmers,” he explained.
The Nairobi dialogue underscored that building sustainable food systems is not merely about producing more food—it’s about producing better, wasting less, and integrating nutrition into policy and practice. Changwony noted that up to 40 percent of food produced in Kenya is lost before it reaches consumers. “Reducing this by half would significantly increase food availability without putting additional pressure on ecosystems,” he said.
For Africa, the EAT-Lancet 2.0 report represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge lies in aligning global sustainability targets with on-the-ground realities of hunger, poverty, and limited infrastructure. The opportunity lies in using livestock as a bridge—linking nutrition, economic growth, and climate adaptation. As ILRI’s new strategy frames it, “better lives and a better planet” are not mutually exclusive goals.
call for stronger policy implementation, cross-sectoral collaboration, and investment in locally appropriate innovations.
“Knowledge is the power that will help us deal with this,” Dr. Bukania reminded participants. The path forward, it seems, is not to abandon livestock—but to integrate it intelligently into a resilient, balanced, and distinctly African model of food security.
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