Agricultural extension programs that teach livestock management skills are a leverage point for improving animal welfare at scale in low- and middle-income countries.
Agricultural extension programs are an underutilized lever for improving animal welfare at scale in low-income countries. Smallholder farmers who learn better animal health management — not from a welfare mandate but because it improves productivity — often improve welfare outcomes as a beneficial side effect. Explicitly integrating welfare messaging into extension content, and framing good welfare practices as economically rational, is a proven approach to achieving welfare improvements without requiring welfare regulation that may not be enforceable.