The demand for beef in Africa is expected to increase by 15% in 2030 due to high population growth, though threatened by increasing negative impact of climate change on beef cattle production. Literature suggests that climate change has resulted in declining number of cattle attributable to deaths caused by lack of palatable pastures during extreme drought events, and diseases exacerbated by adverse weather patterns. However, Eswatini’s accessed literature related to the relationship between beef cattle production and climate change selected variables is limited. Hence this study was conducted to examine the short- and long-term effects of climate change related variables on beef cattle production in Eswatini for the period 1982 to 2020. The unit root test was carried out and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model were applied to analyze the data. Beef cattle production was expressed as a function of annual average temperature, annual average rainfall, annual carbon emissions and area of land used for beef cattle production. The results showed that temperature, rainfall, land and carbon emissions have a negative and significant effect on beef cattle production in the long run while temperature, rainfall and carbon emissions have a positive and significant influence on beef cattle production in the short run. The results further suggest that 92% disequilibrium of beef cattle production in the previous year is adjusted in the current year, which justifies the long-run relationship among the variables. It is therefore recommended that Eswatini government develops and enforces policies that encourage environmental sustainability through reducing carbon emissions. It is also recommended that Eswatini Environmental Authority advocates for government endorsement and enforcement of initiatives that support environmental sustainability such as the development of climate resilient beef cattle breeds and farmers ‘adaptation strategies that build the resilience of the beef cattle sub-sector.

Index Terms- Beef cattle production, Temperature, Rainfall, Carbon emissions, Eswatini.