On May 27, 2025, in Abidjan, policymakers, scientists, private sector leaders, and donors explored
innovative financial mechanisms to build an alliance for sustainable livestock production and showcase bankable projects in Africa.
A high-level roundtable discussion on sustainable livestock production took place on the sidelines of the 2025 African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings in Abidjan.
The initiative aims to accelerate climate financing for sustainable livestock development in Africa.
Dr. Abdrahmane Wane, Regional Representative for West and Central Africa of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), noted that of the $629 billion in climate finance globally, only $28 billion is allocated to food systems.
Of these 28 billion CFA francs earmarked for the planet’s food systems, “very little funding” is allocated to combating the sources of climate change in the livestock sector, which is also facing climate shocks.
“We need financing to help this sector survive” to ensure food security on the African continent, argued Dr. Abdrahmane Wane, emphasising the vulnerability of livestock farming to
the effects of climate change.
Climate financing, he said, consists in particular of helping countries facing climate-related problems to finance projects that will be a little more resilient in the face of observed climate
change.
“We need more and more investment in the livestock sector to help build infrastructure and services that will enable this sector to be much more resilient in the face of climate change,” he added.
However, “to do this, we need a kind of coalition of stakeholders, ranging from research to the banking sector, with the involvement of industry stakeholders and producers, to see how to address these climate change issues,” he added.
This roundtable provided an opportunity to explore how to implement mechanisms and incentives to bring climate finance to this sector to facilitate financing and boost the potential of livestock farming in Africa, he added.
He also noted that in the subregion, there are research centers, development actors, and public institutions working in this sector.
Therefore, a coalition of institutions and partners is needed to transform the livestock sector. Dr. Moumini Sawadogo, Executive Director of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural
Research and Development (CORAF), noted that “the goal is to create leverage that will accelerate the transformation of livestock production.”
This should make it possible to “address the root causes that are somewhat inhibiting the development of the livestock sector, for the benefit of livestock farmers, nations, and the subregion as an accelerator of prosperity,” he said.
“The challenge is to see how to find approaches that allow us to both adapt to improve our resilience and minimise greenhouse gas emissions, which are the causes of our climate change,” Dr. Sawadogo affirmed.
“There are climate financing mechanisms that exist, but they provide very little funding for the livestock sector, because we are most likely unable to develop projects that are consequently bankable and acceptable through these financing mechanisms,” he admitted.
This is why “we are working together to identify the bottlenecks that prevent us from effectively accessing this funding” and to find ways to meet the evaluation criteria for these financing mechanisms, he said.
Birthe Paul, a program officer at the German Agency for International Development Cooperation (GIZ), who participated in the meeting, welcomed this strategic initiative for climate and food security in Africa.
“What we have seen with all the partners is the importance of livestock farming in Africa,” which also contributes to food security; and “this project will enable the management of this natural
resource,” as well as soil restoration and biodiversity, she said.
AP/Sf/fss/as/APA