Assessing the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Effect of Removing Bovine Trypanosomiasis in Eastern Africa

Michael Macleod,Alasdair Sykes,Giuliano Cecchi,Raffaele Mattioli,William Wint,Pierre Gerber,Timothy Robinson,Alexandra Shaw,Vera Eory

doi:10.3390/su10051633

Abstract

Increasing the production of meat and milk within sub-Saharan Africa should provide significant food security benefits. However, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions represent a challenge, as cattle production in the region typically has high emissions intensity (EI), i.e., high rates of GHG emissions per unit of output. The high EI is caused by the relatively low production efficiencies in the region, which are in turn partly due to endemic cattle diseases. In theory, improved disease control should increase the efficiency and decrease the emissions intensity of livestock production; however quantitative analysis of the potential GHG mitigation effects of improved disease control in Africa is lacking. This paper seeks to respond to this by using a hybrid modelling approach to quantify the production and emissions effects of removing trypanosomiasis from East African cattle production systems. The emissions are quantified for each cattle production system using an excel version of GLEAM, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model. The results indicate that removing trypanosomiasis leads to a reduction in the emissions intensity per unit of protein produced of between 0% and 8%, driven mainly by the increases in milk yields and cow fertility rates. Despite the limitations, it is argued that the approach provides considerable scope for modelling the GHG impacts of disease interventions.

Highlights

In developing countries growing populations, rising incomes, and urbanization are translating into increasing demand for livestock products
This paper presents a method for quantifying the effect of trypanosomiasis treatment on the production and emissions intensity (EI) of a range of cattle production systems
The high dairy systems have much lower EI than other systems due to their higher productivity

Summary

Introduction

In developing countries growing populations, rising incomes, and urbanization are translating into increasing demand for livestock products. Livestock is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors of agriculture: a doubling of demand for animal-source foods is expected within developing countries between 2000 and 2050, and a 70% increase for the world as a whole [1,2]. A major part of the challenge is the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) arising from livestock production. It has been estimated through life-cycle assessments that the global livestock sector accounts for around 14.5% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions, with cattle meat and milk accounting for 65% of the livestock emissions [4]. If increased demand is to be met without significant increases in GHG emissions, ways of reducing the emissions intensity (EI, i.e., the amount of GHG emitted per unit of commodity produced) need to be identified and deployed

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion