World Animal Protection (WAP), an international organisation, says no fewer than 10 million people could die globally each year from infections that cannot be treated by antibiotics by 2050.
The research and planning manager at WAP, Patrick Mvinde, made this known in Abuja at a workshop organised for journalists on Thursday.
The theme of the workshop was “Implication of Industrial Animal Farming in Nigeria”, organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), a Civil Society Organisation (CSO).
The researcher said that currently, 1.27 million people die annually from infections that antibiotics cannot treat.
He blamed the situation on industrial farming, a system in which many animals are raised in highly intensive methods, confined and overcrowded under very controlled conditions.
He explained that the system caused suffering for animals, saying that of the 80 billion animals raised, 75 per cent, mostly chickens, pigs and cattle, were in such systems.
“Lack of space leads to stress, deformities, movement problems; due to genetic selection, market weight is attained in as few as 40 days (Broiler).
“The increased weight gain strains key organs such as the heart and lungs, which cause severe joint pains and movement problems,” he said.
According to Mr Mvinde, three-quarters of all antibiotics used in the world are used in farming, especially in factory farming, also referred to as industrial farming.
The veterinary expert said that the residue of the antibiotics used in farming often ends up in the consumers and in the environment, which causes antibiotic resistance in humans.
He said that Avian Influenza, Swine flu and other zoonotic diseases were typically associated with factory farming and that COVID was a trend of emerging zoonosis.
Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
Mr Mvinde warned that rather than embracing industrial farming, smallholder farmers should be supported to attain food sovereignty as well as sustainable environmental and human health.
Also speaking, the programme manager at HEDA Resource Centre, Mayowa Shobo, cautioned against global industrial farmers making entry into Africa.
He said that a study conducted in five states in Nigeria showed that industrial farming had adverse effects on human and environmental health as well as the socio-cultural life of host communities.
Mr Shobo said that the clearing of vast land required for industrial farming and its effect on the ecosystem was detrimental to ongoing efforts on climate change.
He said that industrial farms created visible jobs, saying that opportunities were selective and wages were very low.
Mr Shobo said that land decisions were made without genuine consultation, and that women and poorer groups were excluded from benefits.
According to him, complaints are rarely resolved, leaving communities feeling powerless in their homeland before industrial farmers.
“Government should also invest in health centres, flood control and early warning systems, while supporting local food production through seeds, inputs and protection of smallholder plots,” he said.
(NAN)