Issue 2: Animal agriculture in developing countries: Are governments in the driver's seat?

Can advocates working to disrupt large-scale animal farms and agribusinesses in low- and middle-income countries ignore the role and reach of governments? Can they bypass government activities and rely solely on decreasing consumer demand for animal-based food, on pressuring industrial producers and big corporations in these countries, as their chief intervention strategies?

Each non-high income nation has its own unique blend of political, economic, legal systems, history and culture. For example, Indonesia is a fledgling democracy with the world’s largest number of Muslim population. China is governed by the Chinese Communist Party. After the social and economic strides from 2003 to 2014, Brazil's poverty and inequality reduction seems to have stalled.

In spite of these vast differences, academic researchers have found plenty of government fingerprints in animal agricultural sectors of a number of non-high income nations, often (but not always) supporting large-scale operators and capital-intensive agribusinesses.