The United Nations has long urged countries to mitigate health risks for consumers by reducing the use of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals in livestock.

Addressing antibiotic use in agriculture is critical to combating one of the key public health challenges of our time, particularly in light of the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance.

To support these efforts, the FAO has launched a program called Renofarm, aimed at providing technical assistance to countries developing more sustainable livestock systems.

However, with strategic productivity improvements in livestock systems, antibiotic usage could potentially be reduced to around 62,000 tons annually, representing a significant decrease.

Researchers from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the University of Zurich suggest that these productivity gains could lead to a reduction of antibiotic use by up to 57%.

Moderate reductions in antibiotic use intensity, combined with decreased livestock biomass, could help offset increases in total antibiotic consumption.

Asia and the Pacific are projected to remain the largest consumers of antibiotics, accounting for 65% of total global usage by 2040, followed by South America at approximately 19%.

A recent study published in Nature Communications predicts that global antibiotic use in livestock could increase by nearly 30% by 2040 compared to 2019 levels, potentially reaching over 143,481 tons annually.

While governments have committed to significantly reducing antimicrobial use in the agri-food system by 2030, the rising demand for animal protein complicates these goals.

In 2024, world leaders, through a UN General Assembly resolution, emphasized the urgent need for reductions in antibiotic use in food systems due to escalating antibiotic resistance issues.

The research team analyzed various scenarios, indicating that without changes, antibiotic use could rise to 143,481 tons per year by 2040, a 29.5% increase from 110,777 tons in 2019.

Led by the FAO, the study highlights considerable regional disparities in projected antibiotic use, underscoring the need for coordinated global efforts to manage livestock biomass.