Crossposted from EA Forum post here

This post presents a new tool for deciding which countries to prioritise in preventing or limiting the growth of industrial animal agriculture in LMICs.

The Prevention of Intensification of Factory Farming (PIFF) country scoring model (Sub Saharan Africa) is a geographical weighted factor model used to assess countries for their promisingness as targets for interventions to prevent or limit the extent of the intensification of factory farming in Sub Saharan Africa. A previous version of this model has been developed by Moritz Stumpe for Animal Advocacy Africa's research project with Bryant Research, and was further developed by Aashish during the AIM Research Training Program. 

This model can serve as the basis for various geographic assessments. Whilst the model in its current state serves as a tool to assess appropriateness for a general intervention, it can be modified for specific purposes by weighting each category and its constituent criteria as is desired, and factors may be added or removed from the model. The model can also be applied to other geographic areas, by pulling the respective data from the listed sources and plugging it into the same or a similar structure.

The model in its current form calculates scores for each of the following categories: scale, projected intensification, current intensification, tractability and neglectedness, and combines these into a weighted sum to give an overall score. Weighted multiplication is another calculation method that is used to provide an additional perspective. Further details on each category, its constituent criteria, and their weights can be found in the “Summary Sheet” of the model.

We encourage advocates to edit and extend this tool, and share further iterations, particularly if adapting it for considering particular intervention strategies, as this may provide a useful resource for the community.