Farmed animal advocacy in Uganda (Animal Ask)

The welfare of farmed animals is a critical component of agriculture. Improving animal welfare means that animals live happier, healthier lives - not only is this good for its own sake, but animal welfare also supports community development, public health, and environmental outcomes. In this report, we identify the top opportunities for improving farmed animal welfare in Uganda.

For civil society and other stakeholders who seek to improve the lives of animals, it is important to focus efforts on the species, campaigns, and policies that will bring about the biggest improvements for a given investment of effort. Campaigns should focus on reaching as many animals as possible. Fish (170 million individuals) and chickens (43 million individuals) are the most numerous farmed animals in Uganda by far, and intensively farmed fish and chickens typically experience poorer welfare conditions than other animals. So, improving the lives of farmed fish and chickens is a priority. Likewise, campaigns should focus on the strategies that achieve the largest benefits. We recommend focusing on government outreach, though this can be supplemented by farmer outreach for some campaigns.

With this in mind, we have identified four main priority asks. All of these asks are high-priority and would make highly impactful campaigns. The flowchart below can help guide your choice of campaign from these four major options. The four priority asks are:

1. Preventing industrialised animal farming. Uganda currently has a mix of intensive, semi-intensive, and free range farming (more details below). Intensive and semi-intensive farming have been predicted to grow substantially as Uganda develops. This would cause many more animals to suffer, and it could cause animal welfare to deteriorate. This ask would involve advocating for the government to prevent the growth of intensive and semi-intensive farming, and to instead favour extensive and/or free-range farming. This ask would improve the lives of numerous animals in the short-term and in the long-term, and it would provide critical information for animal advocates in other developing countries. This ask would also allow Uganda to avoid many of the public health and environmental problems that have been caused by intensive farming in other countries.
2. Umbrella animal welfare regulations. Many countries have legally binding regulations that improve animal welfare on farms and ban farming practices that cause animals extreme suffering. This ask would involve advocating for the government to establish a similar set of legally binding regulations in Uganda, possibly building on the draft standards that do exist in Uganda. This would improve the lives of numerous animals now, allow animal welfare standards to become stronger over time, and provide legitimacy for future animal welfare campaigns.
3. Fish welfare improvements. Fish are the most numerous group of farmed animals in Uganda. Intensive, commercial-scale fish production is growing in Uganda, and this type of production typically causes fish to suffer throughout their lives. This ask would seek to improve the lives of farmed fish. Specifically, this ask could be achieved by: campaigning for the government to establish an overarching fish welfare standard; working with farmers to improve fish welfare on farms; and strengthening biosecurity and disease prevention policy.
4. Chicken welfare improvements. Chicken are the second most numerous group of farmed animals in Uganda. Intensive, commercial-scale chicken production also causes chickens to suffer throughout their lives, and this type of production is expected to expand in Uganda. This ask would seek to improve the lives of farmed chickens. Specifically, this ask could be achieved by: campaigning for the government to establish an overarching chicken welfare standard; working with farmers to improve chicken welfare on farms; and working with investors or banks to direct investment to higher-welfare farms.

Throughout our research, we have repeatedly found that there is scarce information about existing welfare conditions and agricultural policy. This means that we are facing more uncertainty than we typically do in our research. To overcome this uncertainty, we have identified four main priorities. All of these priorities appear to be very strong - even in the face of uncertainty, we would expect each of these priorities to be capable of improving the lives of millions of farmed animals.

These priorities can be selected and adapted based on on-the-ground conditions, which could include existing welfare conditions, the policy landscape, and stakeholder views. We have illustrated how an ask could be chosen based on the policy landscape and stakeholder views - see the below flowchart. If you are interested in advocating for farmed animal welfare in Uganda and none of these campaign opportunities are suitable for your circumstances, then we encourage you to reach out to Animal Ask so we can help you select the best campaign for you.