How will a growing demand for meat and milk affect the environmental impact of Kenyan highland farms

How will a growing demand for meat and milk affect the environmental impact of Kenyan highland farms

Population growth and increasing prosperity in African countries is predicted to significantly increase the demand for dairy products in the coming decades. These continental-wide trends are reflected in Kenya, where demand for milk is set to increase by 38% by 2050 compared to levels in 2019 and where the government has pledged to increase its production by 150% by 2030.

Accounting for only 11% of the total land area, the highlands of Kenya have some of the world’s most biodiverse regions, yet it also homes the majority of the country’s population. This causes significant environmental pressure through land degradation as a result of climate and land-use change, and the unsustainable use of the natural resources.

Most Kenyan highlands farms are smallholdings, where pasture accounts from 53% to 100% of the animal food source.

Little is understood about how these important farmers manage their pasture, or how that affects biodiversity or climate resilience, greenhouse gas emissions or livestock productivity.

Experts at Bangor University are set to work with smallholders in the Kenyan highlands to assess the efficiency of their grazing practices and the effect of those practices on the environment.

Working with the smallholders themselves, and partners at ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute, the University of Eldoret and the Kenyan Natural history Museum, the researchers will investigate how pasture management contributes to biodiversity in these smallholdings.

Dr James Gibbons, an expert in ecological modelling at Bangor University, will be leading the research. He explains,