AU-IBAR set to co-convene the 1st African Pastoral Markets Forum
The African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), through the African Pastoral Markets Development (APMD) Platform, will co-convene the inaugural African Pastoral Markets Forum from 13 to 17 July 2026 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Forum will bring together policymakers, investors, financial institutions, private sector actors, pastoral representatives, development partners, and researchers to advance a shared agenda for strengthening livestock markets and unlocking investment across Africa's pastoral livestock sector.
As the lead convenor, AU-IBAR is positioning the Forum as a continental platform for transforming pastoral livestock systems from largely undercapitalized production systems into competitive, market-oriented, and investment-ready sectors that contribute meaningfully to Africa's agri-food systems transformation agenda.
Across the sub-Saharan Africa, the sector contributes to approximately 25% of agricultural GDP and accounts for up to 80% of agricultural value added in many countries thus positioning it as one of the most significant economic assets on the continent. Despite this enormous resources base, Africa continues to capture only a fraction of the value available from regional and global livestock markets due to persistent constraints in market integration, infrastructure, trade facilitation, value addition and investment flows.
Recognizing this challenge, AU-IBAR is championing a shift from traditional policy discussions towards practical market activation. The African Pastoral Markets Forum, therefore, has been designed as a results-oriented marketplace where evidence, enterprises, capital and policy converge to generate tangible investments and trade outcomes. The Forum will provide a platform to showcase bankable livestock enterprises, facilitate business matchmaking, strengthen market systems, and identify scalable opportunities for commercial growth across pastoral livestock value chains.
The Forum will also contribute to advancing key continental priorities including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the African Union's theme of water, and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Discussions will focus on high-impact thematic areas including livestock trade and market integration, financing and capital mobilization, enterprise development, market infrastructure, digital systems and traceability, and the role of water and rangelands as productive assets that underpin sustainable livestock economies.
A key feature of the Forum will be the dissemination of livestock socio-economic contribution brief and the unveiling of the African Pastoral Markets Development Data Hub, a continental market intelligence platform designed to improve access to data, strengthen investment decision-making, and support evidence-based policy development. These products will provide stakeholders with a clearer understanding of the economic contribution of pastoral livestock systems and emerging market opportunities across the continent.
Unlike conventional conferences, the African Pastoral Markets Forum will adopt a private sector-led and pitch-driven approach. Investment-ready enterprises will present commercially viable opportunities directly to financiers, while investors will articulate their financing requirements, risk appetite and investment criteria. Structure investment roundtables, deal rooms and business-to-business engagement will facilitate the development of bankable pipelines and partnerships capable of accelerating growth within the sector.
The Forum is expected to increase the visibility of Africa's livestock sector to investors, generate active deal pipelines, strengthen linkages between enterprises and financiers, and promote policy and regulatory reforms that support trade facilitation and private sector investment. By convening key stakeholders around a common vision, AU-IBAR continues to demonstrate its leadership in fostering market-driven livestock development and creating pathways for inclusive economic growth across Africa.
In APDM's ongoing efforts to build resilient, competitive and sustainable agri-food systems, the convention of the African Pastoral Markets Forum, is representation of the potential to commercialize pastoral livestock systems and position them as drivers of trade, investment, food security and economic transformation.