We agree on a fundamental point: if progress is to happen in Africa, it will require solutions tailored to African realities, drawing on lessons from other regions. The goal is to learn from what has worked elsewhere, understand what has not, and adapt those insights to local economic, political, and cultural contexts.

On a personal level, this is something I spend a great deal of time thinking about. One of the questions that motivates much of my work is how Africa can avoid inheriting the worst features of industrial animal agriculture while still meeting legitimate development and food security goals. I suspect many of the most impactful solutions will emerge from exactly these kinds of cross-regional conversations and shared learning between advocates working in Africa, India, and other LMICs.

Thank you again for contributing to the discussion. I look forward to continuing to learn from the experiences and insights emerging from India and other contexts as we collectively try to build a more welfare-conscious trajectory that improves the lives of billions of animals. 

Thank you, Abhishek. This is exactly the kind of pushback we hoped the post would attract, and you've articulated the strongest version of the affordability objection. The economic gap is real, and I've made this argument many times in my previous role leading corporate cage-free campaigns across Africa. We do not dispute that Europe's welfare reforms emerged under very different economic conditions. Higher incomes, more formalized supply chains, stronger regulatory institutions, and greater state capacity undoubtedly made welfare reforms easier to implement. We also agree that these differences matter when thinking about timelines and pathways for change in Africa.

Where we may differ is in how much weight we place on these constraints when forecasting future progress. The 5- to 10-year timeline we propose is intentionally ambitious. Not because we believe Africa will suddenly acquire European levels of wealth or state capacity, but because waiting for those conditions to emerge may impose enormous welfare costs. If we assume that meaningful welfare reform can only occur once African economies reach the level of Europe in the 1990s, we may be looking at several decades (could be slightly less) before action becomes politically feasible. During that period, animal agriculture across the continent will definitely continue intensifying (JBS's proposed Nigerian facility, World Bank agricultural investment, etc), locking in production systems that could affect billions of animals.

As such, we think this creates a strong case for acting earlier rather than later. The question is not whether Africa faces constraints. It clearly does. The question is whether interventions today can shift the trajectory of a rapidly growing industry before harmful practices become entrenched. Our optimism comes from several observations.

First, Africa has the advantage of being a late adopter. Policymakers, producers, and advocates do not need to rediscover lessons Europe learned over the past 30 years. They can draw directly from existing evidence, policies, technologies, and implementation experiences. Second, many of the highest-leverage opportunities do not depend solely on state enforcement. A significant proportion of welfare gains in Africa to date have come through corporate commitments, producer engagement, industry standards, and market-based interventions. These approaches can often move faster than legislation and can reach large numbers of animals even in contexts where enforcement capacity is limited. Third, we have already seen examples of African institutions adopting policies and standards much faster than historical European timelines would predict. In sectors ranging from digital finance to telecommunications to public health, countries have often leapfrogged older development pathways rather than replicating them step by step. We do not claim animal welfare will follow exactly the same pattern, but it demonstrates that historical trajectories are not always destiny. Finally, from a neglectedness perspective, Africa remains one of the least explored regions for farmed animal welfare. This means that even modest successes may have unusually high counterfactual value. The expected value of testing ambitious strategies may therefore be greater than a purely constraint-focused analysis would suggest.

We certainly may be wrong about the exact timeline. A 15- to 20-year horizon may ultimately prove more accurate than a 5- to 10-year horizon. But we think there is substantial value in aiming for a future in which Africa avoids repeating every stage of Europe's welfare trajectory, rather than assuming it must.

Thanks for engaging with our post. 

Re: animal curricula, we considered this in 2021, when we conducted a knowledge assessment of animal welfare among students, from basic school through to the university level. The idea was to use this data to lobby our Education Ministry to include animal welfare topics in its school curricula. This did not work out at the time because we were a new org with no credibility at the time (unfortunately, there is an implicit hierarchical/financial credibility that systems in Africa, especially governmental agencies, use to determine which lobbyist groups to engage). This is why we emphasize the need to collaborate with institutions outside the movement, especially for small orgs. Generally, animal welfare is very neglected in Africa, so public awareness, especially in the areas you mention, when done well, promises to be impactful. 

Re: feasibility and effectiveness, I think something similar to FEM in Nigeria seems very doable and can be effective. What isn't apparent to me when I consider such a model to raise animal welfare awareness is how to measure its impact. I struggle to see a clear TOC, especially an M&E method to measure the short-term impact. Curious to know what you/others think. 

Thank you Mia

Hi @TomBill, these are really great questions. Below are some details that will hopefully give you some clarity on our work

1.  Animal welfare is significantly neglected in our region, with many farmers prioritizing profit over the well-being of their birds. one compelling tool we utilize is the finding of a research study, which indicates that consumers are increasingly ethically conscious about animal welfare and are willing to pay extra for cage-free products. Additionally, farmers included in our cage-free directory serve as a valuable resource for corporate companies adopting cage-free policies, providing them with a readily available market they can source from. These efforts, in conjunction with our direct outreach programs and workshops that emphasise on the importance of improved welfare practices as such practices directly impact both animal and public health are what convinces farmers to sign up.
2. All farmers listed in our Cage-free Directory are 100% cage-free and adhere to our minimum welfare standards. We achieve this by collaborating closely with them, conducting individual farm visits, and offering technical support as needed. However, there remains a group of farmers who still employ cages and are looking to transition, and we are actively working towards transitioning them by the end of the upcoming year.
3. Currently, the commitments take the form of of MOU's, as dictated by industry norms in our region. Nevertheless, we are actively pursuing measures to makes these commitments legally binding. With increasing industry support and other influential factors, we intend to scale-up our advocacy for regulations prohibiting the use of battery cages in Ghana.
4. As part of the MOU, Animal Welfare League conducts two annual farm visits, one announced and one unannounced, to ensure that farmers maintain the minimum welfare standards. Additionally, farmers are required to provide yearly reports on the status of animal welfare and their housing systems on their respective farms to maintain their position on our directory.

Hi Constance, I totally agree with you that the time to act is now and with regards to specific organizations, Animal Welfare League has started working on this in Ghana. We have created a cage-free farmers directory that consists of farmers who adhere to cage-free minimum welfare standards and pledged to ensure the welfare of their birds are met at all times. 

We have also been up-skilling some staff in cage-free productions virtually with the Global Food Partners and hope to secure funding to take them through the physical training at the Global Food Partners Cage-free facility.

We particularly view a producer’s directory pertinent to an improved chicken welfare across Africa and with experiences from leading Open Wing Alliance’s (OWA) Africa outreach to global companies in Africa, we firmly believe that a producer’s directory with a corresponding cage-free model farm will serve as a practical demonstration farm for training producers especially transitioning cage farmers. This model farm will also be a research station that will provide context relevant layer hen welfare improvement data points to enrich the cage-free campaign in Africa