Why the livestock sector is critical in climate agenda

Bernard Kimoro, Head of Climate Change and Livestock Sustainability, State Department of Livestock Development addresses participants during a regional workshop organised by FAO and African Centre for Technology Studies in Naivasha. [Courtesy]

The livestock sub-sector contributes over 90 per cent of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and about 20 per cent of Kenya’s GHG emissions, driving further climate change.

Livestock is a contributor of mainly methane, which has a relatively short life cycle, but a high potential to warm the atmosphere. Livestock emits methane through the rumen's digestive processes, known as enteric fermentation.

Manure management practices also release high amounts of methane and nitrous oxide. Addressing methane emissions from livestock is expected to mitigate emissions to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature increase to less than 2°C by 2030.  

Bernard Kimoro, Head Climate Change and Livestock Sustainability, State Department of Livestock Development, said main emissions from livestock are enteric fermentation through feeding and quality of feed.

Kimoro said the livestock sub-sector has been identified as a key player in the mitigation of GHG emissions from the agriculture sector in line with the Global Methane Pledge to reduce emissions by 30 per cent.

He warned that nationally, GHG emissions are expected to increase by 79 per cent to 143 megatonnes by 2030, while agriculture emissions are expected to increase by 23 per cent by 2030, mainly driven by livestock enteric emissions.

Kimoro noted that Kenya is amongst developing nations in which Agriculture and Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors dominate the share of its total GHG emissions.

He revealed that the current Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) has prioritised climate actions in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (Afolu) for adaptation and mitigation.

Speaking during a workshop organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and African Centre of Technology Studies (ACTS) in Naivasha on Wednesday, Kimoro said Kenya submitted its NDC on December 28, 2016 in line with the Paris Agreement to reduce GHG emissions by 30 per cent, but the revised NDC has set the target to 32 per cent.

The government has prioritised adaptation actions in NDC through increased productivity in the value chain approach to support the transformation of agriculture (crops, livestock, fisheries) into an innovative commercially oriented competitive and modern sector.

Kimoro said the government has embarked on targeted mitigation for NDC through national development strategies supportive of productivity-enhancing and climate-resilient investments.

He said the government has rolled out the Dairy Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (Dairy Nama) targeting 267,000 households in efforts to reduce emissions through efficient energy use at secondary production and circulatory biodigesters.

“Kenya with the support of New Zealand government, Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and FAO has made significant efforts in mitigating GHG emissions,” Kimoro said.

He said government projects in high-potential areas are geared towards ensuring the production of feed at the right time, stage and use of the right fertiliser and conservation of the surplus to avoid poor quality feed.

Other projects are the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP), and Kenya Livestock Commercialisation Project (KeLCoP) which seeks to increase production.

Speaking during the workshop that brought together representatives from 20 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr Joel Onyango from ACTS noted that Kenya has set an ambitious target to reduce methane emissions by 32 per cent.

“Practical implementation of mitigation within livestock systems should be driven by farmers,” he said.

Aimable Uwizeye from FAO noted that livestock emissions are 80 per cent methane while 54 per cent of global emissions are all forms of methane.

 Aimable Uwizeye from FAO noted that 80 per cent of global direct livestock emissions are methane while in the entire production chain, 54 per cent of global livestock emissions are all forms of methane.

He said that low and middle-income countries produce more methane because they have more livestock that have low productivity.

“81 per cent of methane emissions take place in low and middle-income countries while 18 per cent take place in high-income countries,” he said.

Uwizeye said FAO is committed to helping countries integrate livestock-related mitigation and adaptation targets in NDCs, build capacity, climate finance and develop policies. He was optimistic that COP30 in Brazil will have a strong livestock agenda.

Prof Ahmed Elbeltagy from African Union called for diversification of livestock systems through mixed farming, adoption of climate-smart agriculture, improvement of breeds and genetics, enhancement of water management, capacity building and early warning systems and improvement of feed practices to curb GHG emissions.