Milk offtake of cows in smallholder farms of semiarid Sahel: low yields with high value!

Abstract

The cow milk offtake of 300 agropastoral smallholdings was measured every fortnight over a year in semiarid Sahel, in Dantiandou district in Niger. The numbers of cows − adults, lactating and actually milked in the morning and/or evening − were systematically recorded, as well as information on grazing man­agement, cow feed supplementation, milk consumption and processing, and sale of dairy products. In addition, the reproduction careers of the 334 cows were documented by retrospective survey. The mean daily milk offtake per cow per milking was 0.82 ± 0.45 L. It was not significantly different between morning and evening milkings, between seasons, and between farms. However, the total milk offtake per farm, whose annual average was 507 ± 362 L, varied consider­ably according to the season and the farm. On average, they were higher in the recently settled Fulani camps (624 ± 377 L) than in Djerma village farms (352 ± 275 L). The larger cow population in the camps (7.1 ± 5.3 vs 4.3 ± 4.0) mainly caused this difference, although their proportion of lactating cows was lower (57%) than in village herds (73%). The results showed that better management by camp agropastoralists with less frequent milkings, more frequent use of night grazing, transhumance, and regular use of feed supplementation helped improve cow fattening and reproductive performances. Despite these low milk yields, the monetary value of the milk offtake accounted for 16% of farm and off-farm incomes in camp households, and 7% in village households. Dairy products were largely consumed by the family: 78% in camps and 84% in villages.