Global livestock demand pushes agrifood gas emissions to 23yr high

• …as Nigeria sees livestock sector boom

The world’s appetite for meat has hit a new high, but it is coming with steep consequences for the environment. According to new data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), greenhouse gas emissions from global agrifood systems climbed to 16.5 billion tons in 2023, the highest level in over two decades.

This represents a 7 percent jump from the year 2000, and the primary driver is our growing hunger for livestock, especially cattle and their byproducts like beef.

“Greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood systems grew by seven percent between 2000 and 2023. Farm-gate emissions account for nearly half of them…. around 53 percent of them are related to livestock,” a recent FAO report read.

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Livestock boom in Nigeria confirms the surge

The narrative holds in Africa’s most populous nation, where both foreign and private investment in the agric sector has all been targeted at livestock.

Recent reports by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that foreign investment in the country’s agric sector surged by over 500 percent in the first nine months of 2025 to $116.06 million, up from $19.13 million in the corresponding period of 2023.

Agric stakeholders interviewed by BusinessDay said the three-year boom in the agro value chain is on the back of investors’ growing interest in Nigeria’s livestock sector.

Kola Aderigbigbe, agric president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said there has been a surge in demand for livestock and all its derivatives like meat and milk, which is rousing investors’ confidence in the sector.

“There has been a significant rise in livestock investment, including cattle ranching, meat processing in the agricultural value chain,” the agribusinessman said in a telephone interview.

While the agricultural sector is affected by climate change, which leads to excessive rainfall, drought, and desertification, the sector is also one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas, contributing roughly 32 percent to total emissions in the world.

Aderigbigbe also highlights improved confidence in the federal government’s bilateral business relationships with countries like the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries on ‘halal’ meat production — a process that involves sourcing, slaughtering, and processing livestock in strict compliance with Islamic law.

According to sourced data from the NBS, Nigeria has over 58 million cattle raised by households.

After the official inauguration of the Federal Ministry of Livestock in July 2024 to primarily boost protein production and resolve long-standing farmer-herder conflicts, there have been several investments in the N33 trillion livestock value chain.

One of such investments is from JBS, a Brazilian meatpacking company. The company invested $2.5 billion into the establishment of a 100,000-hectare cattle ranch in Niger and into the modernisation of a meat processing facility in Ogun State as part of efforts to boost the livestock value chain.

Abiodun Olorundero, an agribusiness expert, affirmed that the livestock sector is attracting foreign investors who believe Nigeria’s abundance of cattle, poultry, and other animals has much to offer. “The livestock sector has been attracting investors for a while now,” he said.

Livestock Feeds Plc, a manufacturer of animal feeds in Nigeria and the only listed livestock company on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), posted an after-tax profit of N1.93 billion by the end of 2024.

Following JBS’s notable foreign investment, Chi Farms Nigeria Limited, a leading Nigerian agribusiness company, also poured an additional $2.5 billion into livestock as a private-led investment plan.

Experts say this influx of investment is because the sector is viable. Livestock accounts for 40 percent of the world’s agricultural gross domestic product (GDP). It employs 1.3 billion people and creates livelihoods for one billion of the world’s population living in poverty.

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High meat consumption

With a population of over 220 million, Africa’s most populous nation’s demand for meat is substantial and continues to grow.

The country has one of the largest meat markets in Africa, with an estimated annual consumption of more than 1.5 million metric tons of various meat types.

Globally, about 360 million metric tons of meat is consumed annually. A 2022 survey by the FAO notes that an average of 846,000 cattle, 1.4 million goats, 4 million pigs, and 206 million chickens are slaughtered daily globally, contributing to agri foods greenhouse gas emissions.

Livestock gas emission process

Livestock emits large quantities of methane gas that go on to cause global warming, accelerating climate change.

The demand for livestock products requires large amounts of land for grazing, which can lead to overgrazing, reducing the land’s capacity to store carbon (CO2) – a process that changes climate dynamics.