APMD presents the transformative case for pastoralism at the Kenya Meat Expo 2025
As the nation turns its attention to the Meat Expo 2025, the African Pastoral Markets Development (APMD) Platform, an AU-IBAR initiative, is poised to make a powerful case for the transformation of Africa’s pastoral livelihoods and economies.
Pastoralism has remained as one of the oldest and most resilient forms of livelihood across the Horn of Africa and the Sahel landscapes, sustaining over 268 million people and substantially contributing to the national GDPs. In Kenya, for instance, livestock accounts for 42% of the agricultural GDP, whereas in Nigeria the sector supports millions of households in rural and peri-urban areas. Despite this, pastoralism has been neglected and marginalized in development planning, leaving communities vulnerable to recurrent droughts, poor infrastructure, market exclusion and limited access to finance.
Transforming pastoral markets is not without challenges—conflict over grazing land, climate variability, market access and weak infrastructure continue to pose risks. However, through regional cooperation, targeted policy reforms and public-private sector partnerships, APMD is charting a roadmap to turn some of the challenges into opportunities .
However, the APMD Platform is set to change this narrative on a continental scale. With AU-IBAR’s technical leadership, the platform provides a mechanism for coordinating policies and creating an enabling environment, strengthening data systems and facilitating and integrating private sector actors into livestock investments. Guided by the African Union, the Platform is anchored on the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
At the core of this transformational approach, the Platform recognizes that building successful and thriving economies requires more than piecemeal interventions. Rather, it demands a holistic strategy that integrates disease control, market access, value addition and inclusivity. The Platform’s recent benchmarking mission with delegates from Kenya and Nigeria to Namibia showcased practical lessons in livestock identification and traceability systems, disease-free zones, sanitary and phyto-sanitary compliance and cold chain logistics. This reflects the project’s ongoing efforts in the learning and dissemination of proven models, like in the case of Namibia, in access to premium markets in the European Union, Norway, China and the USA.
For the Horn of Africa and Sahel, adopting such a practice could revolutionize the whole sector. Imagine Kenya or Nigeria scaling up digital livestock traceability systems, enforcing functional disease-free zones and investing in modern feedlots and abattoirs. The impact would not only elevate their export capacity but also enhance food security, attract private sector investment and improve pastoral incomes.
Moreover, APMD is leveraging on data ecosystems to inform evidence-based policy-making and practice. By strengthening pastoral data collection, ranging from market prices and cross-border trade flows to animal health surveillance, the platform empowers governments and private sector investors with the intelligence needed for sound decision-making. The platform’s commitment to data-driven approaches ensures pastoral economies are not only resilient but also investment-ready.
However, APMD’s vision extends beyond trade infrastructure and livestock marketing. The platform equally focuses on inclusivity and resilience. Women and youth, who are often sidelined in livestock value chains, are placed at the centre of APMD interventions to support women-led cooperatives, youth entrepreneurship in livestock services and enhance access to climate-smart financing tools such as the index-based livestock insurance have reshaped the beneficiary demographics of pastoral economies.
As the Meat Expo 2025 gathers stakeholders, its presence to APMD is strategic and timely, signaling a bold commitment to reimagining pastoralism not as a relic of the past but as the future of Africa’s agriculture. APMD will highlight how such interventions align with the continental integration goals under the AfCFTA, and global standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health and Codex Alimentarius with a clear call to action for governments and private sector actors. For Kenya, Nigeria and their strategic outreach countries across the Horn of Africa and Sahel, this is not about producing and exporting more beef, but about building inclusive, resilient and competitive pastoral economies that can thrive in the global marketplaces.
The big question, then, is not whether Africa can transform its pastoral ecosystems but whether we share the vision and commitment to follow through. With APMD at the helm, the answer is increasingly a resounding YES.