Climate change and cattle production in Nigeria: any role for ecological and carbon footprints?

Cattle beef is an essential animal protein in sub-Saharan Africa. However, pastoralists dominate cattle production in sub-Saharan Africa, and their output is dependent on the availability of fodder from grasslands in rain-fed systems, which makes cattle production more vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation. However, evidence of climate change impacts on cattle production in the region is scarce. Also, studies on the effects of environmental quality on cattle production using superior proxies (such as ecological and carbon footprints, and grazing land) rather than carbon dioxide emissions are rare. The effects of climatic factors (such as temperature and precipitation) and environmental quality measures (such as ecological and carbon footprints and grazing land) on cattle production in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, were studied. Other covariates such as cattle share of total livestock population and cattle unit per agricultural land were also considered in the study. Time-series data from 1971 to 2018 were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization statistical database, World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, and Global Footprint Network. Using autoregressive distributed lag model to analyze the data, the paper found that carbon footprint, ecological footprint, grazing area, rainfall, cattle share of total livestock population, and cattle unit per agricultural land all have long-term effects on cattle production in Nigeria. Under the current climate change and environmental degradation regime, appropriate policy measures for effective and efficient cattle production were recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]