Burkina Faso will dramatically transform in the coming decades. In a business as usual scenario, the country population is expected to reach almost 42 million by 2050, from about 18 million today, and the size of the economy to more than quintuple. The government aims at ensuring the anticipated societal transformations be inclusive and sustainable. The Burkina Faso 2025 Vision reads: “Burkina Faso 2025: a democratic country, united and peaceful, which has transformed its economy through a sustained and inclusive growth, and with sustainable consumption and production patterns”.

The 2016-2020 National Plan for Economic and Social Development, which provides the overarching framework for sustainable economic growth and development, considers investments in agriculture a priority for achieving Burkina Faso Vision 2025. Within agriculture, the development of the livestock sector is guided by the 2010-2025 National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Livestock, which aims at sustainably improving production and productivity to satisfy the growing demand for animal source foods for improved food security and promote exports. In the long-term, however, the expected growth and transformation of the livestock sector might also result in negative public health, environmental and social outcomes, because of a variety of unknown and unpredictable factors shaping its development trajectory.

The Burkina Faso Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery Resources, the Ministry of the Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change, the Ministry of Health and the FAO Africa Sustainable Livestock 2050 Initiative have joined forces to generate evidence to support decisions for a sustainable development of livestock in the long-term. A National Steering Committee, comprising representatives of the partnering ministries, leads a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder process to:

• Characterize the current livestock production systems and generate evidence on their impact on public health, the environment and livelihoods.
• Formulate long-term (2050) scenarios to characterize future livestock production systems and anticipate emerging opportunities and challenges for the Burkina Faso society.
• Identify actionable policy reforms to implement today that, by complementing current policies and strategies, will enhance the country capacity to cope with the possible emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance; to deal with the potential negative impact of livestock on the environment and climate change; and to improve the livelihoods and food security of the future generations.