Cattle grazing in Borena, Oromia, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Camille Hanotte).

‘It is fair to assume many private investors in Africa did not grow up milking a cow or shepherding cattle through the Sahara Desert.

‘But, with a growing number of firms gobbling up arable land in Africa—not solely for crop production but also for livestock and cattle—investment shops are slowly redirecting capital to this agricultural subsector.

Investing in this segment of African economies can be transformative, as a significant portion of African wealth and growth opportunity is walking on four legs on the African continent.

Africans are demanding an increased percentage of meat in their diet.

‘Livestock investment addresses other poverty in the agricultural value chain—manure, feed and milk—as well as providing economic protection against drought. Yet investors will have to overcome both institutional and physical constraints on the livestock sector—market information, diseases and available pasture—to achieve financial returns.

‘Market information (and market distortions)…