Meat isn’t just an animal product in Africa. It’s a symbol of comfort and a sign of good living in so many cultures. In some West African homes, the size of the meat in your food is determined by your age. In most places, parties without some steak get the stick. The cultural significance of meat is hardly spoken about, yet it’s the life of parties and some nightlife in Africa.
Beyond its nutritional value – essential amino acids and a good source of animal protein, it is also the path some families have trailed for generations.
Africa spends billions of dollars every year importing meat, in spite of the size of its cattle population. Well, the truth is there isn’t enough to go around and until there is more than enough, Africa will continue to import meat.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, meat consumption will grow by more than 200% by the year 2050 with expectations set around 35 million tonnes in the next two decades. Majority of this meat, if current trends are still in vogue, will not be supplied by Africans. This means Africa will look on to the world for its meat, yet there’s a constant clash of urbanisation of cultures in most parts of the continent.
This is an opportunity for an investor. And there’s no meat without cattle, sheep, goats and poultry.
Africa’s population is expected to be double its current size by 2050, and that’s more than 2 billion people demanding meat on the continent. While there are frantic calls for a better adoption of vegetarianism, Africans by culture and exposure still ‘have a beef’ with that belief.
In the coming years, with better policies in place (and hopefully no public health challenges), and with the growing nature of tech and the evolution of income generation on the continent, income levels are expected to rise, a stronger middle class economy will also emerge on the continent. There will be great demand for meat and many Africans will be able to afford it and feed healthily.
This opens an opportunity for farmers and other investors who may look to agriculture, livestock farming and the technological revolution looking to make everything count the more.
Culture: Threat and Opportunity
So many cultures are known for cattle rearing in Africa, yet the continent doesn’t have the highest beef production rate in the world. The United States, Brazil and the European Union produce the highest amount of beef, as they are responsible for more than 40% of global productions. Why these economies are in charge of the world’s beef isn’t far-fetched. Technology.
Their mechanized farms mean they have a higher turnover of meats on a daily basis and their strong veterinary standards mean their abattoirs are functional.
Africa in contrary has most of its meat from smallholder farms on the continent. These rural farmers, although passionate and relentless about their cattle, don’t produce enough to feed the continent. Accepting new methods also may be a challenge, especially if it threatens their existential beliefs about meat production and cattle rearing.
In the face of these inadequacies, the rising rural-urban migration also threatens the continuous presence of these rural farmers. Nigeria and South Africa have the biggest markets for meat on the continent and have to largely depend on importation, while they battle mostly inflexible locals.
If both nations devise technological means to create systems that will link cattle farmers, especially old rearers and new investors, with their markets, an increased demand for meat and upgrade of breeds and their quality promise a lot on the continent.
Also Read: How Cattle are Important to Climate Change
Dining with the Swine is Clean Money
By 2050, the FAO says pork consumption will rise by 200% in Africa and the continent doesn’t have enough pigs, or the technology to make the most of them, and lacks enough professionals to cater for them.
This increased demand opens slots for investments with technological upgrades in feed production, holding facilities and veterinary services ensuring a wider and more diverse approach to making a fortune out of meat.
Like pork, poultry consumption (eggs and meat) is also expected to rise by 211% by 2050, as Africa’s population keeps growing.
Fitch, a credit rating and global market research company says the consumer demand for beef in Africa will hit 450,000 tonnes by 2023. Of that, the continent will only be able to produce about 370,000 tonnes. This means, 80,000 tonnes of beef have been left to the rest of the world.
Africa’s food bill will hit $125bn by 2030 and this offers a huge opportunity for many investors on the continent as a significant portion of the food consumed are sourced from animals.
Milking the Future: The Dairy Farms
The dairy cows in Africa (49 million) is five times what the United States has, according to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Ethiopia has the highest number of cows on the continent, but South Africa has the highest milk production per cow. Of the four countries with the greatest milk production in Africa, only Ethiopia and Kenya are able to meet its local demands. South Africa and Sudan, which are the other two still have to import milk from the United States or Europe to meet its local consumption.
Most African countries adopt the smallholder or modern system of dairy production with South Africa making the most of new technologies. Majority (about 60%) of its milk production are consumed as liquid while the rest is packaged into cheese and milk prepared in ultra-high temperatures. This is usually the case in other parts of Africa too, albeit in smaller capacities.
Although local milk production in Africa has risen by 50% in the last five years, with its capacity now at 4 billion litres, there’s still a gap met by importation from the EU. Another challenge is the relatively expensive price of local milk in comparison with imported milk. This has led many farmers to suffer losses as they’ve had to pour their milk away, despite containing more nutrients and health benefits.
Smallholder dairy farmers, many of whom currently have about 5 dairy cows per herd need to be helped. Their milk can also be improved through new technology and the governments and investors can help link them to their markets.
Africa’s dairy farms provide just half of what Africa needs and there’s an investment opportunity in there. While these opportunities, with good government policies in place will serve investors, they will also be helping to lighten Africa’s heavy malnutrition burdens.
Where the African Tech Hubs Come in
The Masai and Fulani are two of Africa’s strongest cattle-rearing populations but they can only go so far in providing meat for Africa’s massively growing population.
There are strong cattle and animal-rearing cultures in some Southern African nations like Botswana, but should local demands be met by the continent itself, there’s a need for intensive systems of production. This isn’t impossible, as shown and adopted in most parts of the world.
Some African companies have also devised new strategies to making this work but accessing local markets is still a challenge.
The growing tech hubs in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and other parts of Africa have some of the continent’s best minds and these are the people who sit behind their computers to provide the next best ideas to fly.
If there’s a system that connects the many smallholder farms dominating Africa to their consumers, there will be a more seamless approach to meeting production and consumption demands.
Already, about 33 million farmers in Africa have subscribed to various new technologies to make their results better, yet they stand for just 13% of the smallholder and pastoral farmers on the continent.
An example of such technological success stories is Ethiopia’s “80-28”, a farmer advisory service with about 4 million users, the highest in Africa. Its smooth operation has been enabled by its adoption of the local feel to its services, helping farmers with new updates on weather, diseases and more.
Other countries with great demands for meat may adopt simple approaches to link their cattle owners, abattoir merchants and final consumers, using the simplest methods possible. This will ensure demands are met in better time, and more cattle are brought in and taken out, helping Africa to make the most of its meat.
Getting African farmers to adopt new methods for the good of the continent requires a modern approach and with the rise of technology and its many possibilities, a lot can be done to make the most of it. It’s time to meet the meat demands and milk the opportunities in them.
