The trend analysis reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa is a major producer and a net exporter of agro-byproducts. The domestic consumption of these byproducts as feed has been increasing but has still remained relatively low in relation to total production. Exports of byproducts still remained a major source of foreign exchange earnings in Sub-Saharan Africa. On a regional basis, West Africa dominated in byproduct production as well as in exports, followed by Eastern Africa, but the latter consumed more of its byproducts than it exported.
A review of the nutritional characteristics of byproducts indicates relatively high nutritive values with generally no major nutritional limitations in livestock feeding. Moreover, oilcakes have a high feeding potential for milking cows. Due to their relatively high protein content and if readily available, these byproducts can supplement a substantial number of dairy cows every year.
Many experiments indicated the technical feasibility of supplementary feeding with byproducts in Sub-Saharan Africa. However the economic viability of such supplementation depends not only on the technical relations between feed input and livestock product but also on the ratio of their prices. Such ratios, due to transport costs, national polices and differences in the balance between domestic supply and demand, vary greatly between countries. For some countries it makes economic sense to feed byproducts to increase domestic livestock production. For other countries it may make more sense to export them to be fed in other countries where the price ratios are more favourable.
