Nigeria is one of the best performers under the VACI (on par with Switzerland), due largely to its low production and consumption of animal products.
Nigeria is one of the best performers under the VACI (on par with Switzerland), due largely to its low production and consumption of animal products.
Nigeria slaughters around 1.9 land-based animals per person / year, which is less than a fifth of the global average of 9.7. It also has the third lowest dependency on farm animals amongst the countries surveyed, with around 1.6 farm animals per person (compared with a global average of around 4). Farm production is mostly small-scale and extensive, although there is evidence that intensive factory farming methods are emerging – particularly in poultry production.
The Nigerian diet contains the lowest proportion of animal products amongst the countries surveyed, with around 9.52% of the average person’s diet being made up of land-based animal protein (compared with a global average of 35.2%). This equates to each person consuming around 30.8g of land-based animal protein per day (compared with a global average of 26.7g). According to the World Bank, 46% of the Nigerian population was living below the national poverty line as at 2009.
Nigeria was given an “E” under the Animal Protection Index (API), and is also a poor performer under the Sanctioning Cruelty category. Learn more about the quality of Nigeria’s legislative protections on the API here.