Forgotten factory farming gets little attention at COP28

Few months ago, an aerial view of this country was clear dry lands, dried-up rivers and streams with only countable patches of green areas.

In areas that pastoralists kept livestock, carcasses of dead cows and goats were the only thing that farmers could wake up to every morning.

Majority were forced to sell their livestock at throw away prices. All these were due to the worst drought the Horn of Africa had experienced in the last 40 years, consequences of the ongoing global crisis, and climate change.

Human beings were also not spared from these adverse effects of climate change as close to 174 million people across the continent were affected by the crisis.

And after close to three years of the worst drought ever, the same dry grounds are now socked with extreme floods due to the ongoing El Nino rains.

The heavy rains have caused a lot of destruction with close to 200 people losing their lives.

A journey through Kee Ward in Makueni County gives one the true picture of how Africa, despite its lowest contribution of greenhouse gas emissions, has continued to be at the receiving end of the climate crisis.

Floods aftermath

John Kimanthi and his wife Belice have seen it all. They have suffered the effects of adverse drought and recently, they have witnessed the aftermath of floods.

For years, the couple were small scale farmers and livestock keepers. “We used to have five cows and some chickens. We also farmed maize and other foods on our small land. And even though the yields were not that much, we did not miss a few sacks of maize to sustain my family and even sell the extra yields. I cannot complain over what we harvested,” John says.

For the animals, he says animal feeds were adequate and could sustain them all through the months until another season.Water was also sufficient for both humans and animals.

“But as the drought persisted, the more food and water for both humans and animals became scarce. We had to decide on whether to buy food for our children and grandchildren or for animals. It was also expensive to buy water,” he says.

John says even though they did not have to walk for hours in search of water, they had to cough up a good amount of money every day to buy water for their family.

His wife says for the majority of the women in this rural area, drought meant going the extra mile to ensure their families, especially children had food on the table.

“Previously, aside from farming in our own farms, women could work in other people’s farms and earn some money, which they would use in other family expenses. But with no rain, there was no food, no water and no extra coin for other basic needs, leaving women to live in despair,” she says.

And now, as El Nino wreaks havoc in many parts of the country, John and Belice have not been spared either.

Prior to the start of the rains, the couple had grown their crops in readiness of the rainy season. They, however, did not anticipate that the rains would be extremely heavy, to a point of destroying all the crops.

“When the rains came, it was too much for the crops and they ended up dying because of too much water and also lack of sunlight. This means, as farmers, we will have very little to zero harvest,” Belice says.

The mother of three says the effects of climate change have been hard on such communities due to years of cutting trees, leaving their lands without protection against heavy rains or prolonged drought.

She says “For years, we have senselessly been cutting down trees to pave way for construction or even for charcoal burning. We have, however, learnt tough lessons from our years of ignorance.”

Forgotten industry

And while global warming has been attributed to many sectors, one industry that experts feel has been left scot-free is agriculture’s factory farming.

Burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas have been named as the top emitters of greenhouse gas (GHG) whose end results is what the Global South is experiencing now.

Experts list energy and transport emissions as the leader in emission, standing at 18 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, while agricultural activities contribute upto 15 per cent of GHG emissions, making it third largest contributor.

According to a recent report released by World Animal Protection, factory farming contributes to atleast 11 per cent of general GHG emissions causing climate disasters in the globe.

Increase in the farming model

The report shows while food production might be perceived as the leading cause of emission in the agricultural sector, factory farming, including animal rearing, feed production and processing contributes upto 45 per cent of the industry’s emissions.

Victor Yamo from World Animal Protection-Africa says a major percentage of these gases are emitted by nations in the Global North, which have been categorised as developed nations.

However, with Africa’s growing demand for meat, which is expected to grow by 30 per cent in 2030, the factory farming model is expected to spread to the Global South, where the majority are developing nations, such as Kenya.

“Projected increase in demand and consumption in Africa will see an increase of this farming model and also associated GHG impacts. This model will highly contribute to any drought or floods that will be experienced in future,” he says.

Yamo says the system will further affect close to 1.7 billion poor traditional small scale livestock keepers whose livelihood depends on the livestock.

“The farming itself is also inhuman to the animals since they reared in unfavourable conditions,” he notes.

Yamo says African governments need to impose a moratorium on factory farming and advocate for humane and sustainable livestock farming.

At the just ended COP28 meeting, close to 150 countries have signed to the “Emirate Declaration”, which recognises agricultural risks to climate change and also acknowledged risks that the sector faced as a result of the global crisis.

Experts, however, say just like other decisions, the declaration misses specific details of what actions different countries should take towards reducing agricultural emissions and specifically that from factory farming.

Global moratorium

The declaration fell short of what various stakeholders such as World Animal Protection tabled as recommendation, which included stopping support towards factory farming systems and the continued industrialisation of livestock systems, which make a significant contribution to GHGEs and global heating.

They also proposed a global moratorium on any new factory farms with special attention towards Global South and in Africa in particular, to stop factory farms from displacing agroecological and pastoral livestock systems that support communities and millions of livelihoods.

The organisation had also suggested an establishment of national plans to support a just transition away from industrialised livestock production towards agroecological systems that produce sustainable plant-based foods and fewer farmed animals in high welfare environments.

Jermanine Kavalin, a climate activist from Brazil says the agricultural emissions were not widely discussed in the just concluded meeting, therefore, fall short of the expected results.

“Factory farming is not only an animal issue, but also a human rights issue. Communities in Latin America are being displaced by companies, which are putting up poultry farms,” she says.

The youthful climate activist says the right declaration would have been for countries to stop financing factory farming.

And while farmers are still reeling from the discouraging outcomes of the meeting, with the little they have, the majority of them are already working towards adapting to climate change.

One of the ways they are using is digging furrows and gabions which then diverts water to their farms, where it is retained by using long-terms crops, such as pawpaw trees.

This means, most of the rain water is channeled to particular grounds, thereby preventing destruction of the farms and houses.“We practice intercropping of crops, such as maize and beans or any other legumes, which enhances productivity. These two crops hold water at different levels. We also plant long-term crops, such as pawpaw trees, which are able to retain water for long, helping the soil retain its moisture,” says Belice.

Just like millions of African farmers, John and Belice are hopeful that finances from the newly founded adaptation fund will reach to their ground to enable them build more climate resilient measures in their communities.