Uganda will dramatically transform in the coming decades. In a business as usual scenario, the Ugandan population is expected to reach 100 million by 2050, from about 39 million today, and the size of the economy to be larger by more than a factor of six. The Uganda Vision 2040 aims to “a transformed Uganda Society from a Peasant Economy to a Modern and Prosperous Country”. The Vision “Uganda aspires to transform the agriculture sector from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture that is profitable, competitive and sustainable to provide food and income security to all the people of Uganda … specific emphasis will be placed on the promotion of aquaculture and livestock farming”.

Within the framework of the Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan 2015/16-2019/20, a variety of policies and acts currently guide investments and interventions in the livestock sector, such as the 2001 Animal Breeding Act, the 2005 Animal Feeds Policy, the 2003 Dairy Regulation, the 2003 Meat Policy, the 2002 National Veterinary Drug Policy and the 2018-2022 One Health Strategic Plan among others. Even though with different resource envelopes, priorities, timeframes and perspectives, all these policies aim at supporting a sustainable development of the livestock sector. In the long-term, however, livestock sector growth and transformation 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 Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Water and Environment, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics 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 institutions, 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 livestock-related emerging opportunities and challenges for Ugandan society.
• Identify actionable policy reforms to implement today that, by complementing current policies and strategies, 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.