11. Nuru et al (1978) among others, have identified insufficient fodder and lack of water supply, as the primary factors limiting livestock development in Nigeria. Others (Dettmers and Olotu, 1978) have identified the lack of high milk-yielding animals in the traditional herds and the low prices for fresh milk which create a disincentive to producers as additional limiting factors. Other important factors which constrain domestic milk production include the competition from imported dairy products, inefficient technical and extension services, inadequate labour supply as well as ecological factors.
12. Fodder. In Nigeria, up to 99% of cattle feed under traditional management is derived from bush grazing. The cattle are fed through free range systems in communal grazing lands or from crop residues which may or may not belong to the owner of the herd. The natural fodder usually lasts the rainy season. As the dry season approaches, the cattle move to graze low-lying swampy land called fadama. This movement proceeds from the drier parts in the north to the wetter parts in the south of the country and from high to lowland areas with the search for fodder and water. The consequences of inadequate feed are low milk yield, low resistance to diseases, and high mortality, particularly during the dry season. Although the southern parts of the country offer much better natural forage during the dry season, due to tsetse infestation, the cattle population in the south is low constituting only 3.9% of the natural total (see Walkers' technical cattle map in the Federal Livestock Department, Lagos).
13. Water supply. As a management practice, herdsman do not fetch water for their cattle. Rather, they move with their herds to where they will find water in streams, dams, or puddles. During the dry season, and particularly drought years like that of 1963, most of such sources of water dry up in the northern states. In 1963 cattle and other livestock died in thousands. During normal dry seasons, however, the herdsman move their cattle to fadama lands and to micro-ponds constructed under the Agricultural Development Projects (ADP). Some of the cattle may not survive the movement due to excessive heat and thirst. In the south, most streams run all gear round so water is not as much a constraint to livestock production as are livestock diseases (see pare 12 above).
14. Low milk yield in stock. According to the World Bank (1981), the traditional Fulani cattle herd is typically made up of:
|
White Fulani |
51.0 percent |
|
Red Fulani |
14.0 percent |
|
Sokoto Gudali |
11.5 percent |
|
Adamawa Gudali |
11.5 percent |
|
Other local breeds |
12.0 percent |
This means that there are no exotic breeds or cross-breeds in a traditional herds. De Leeuw (1978) estimated that traditional cows in milk, yield 180 kg per animal per year. Ngere (1978) reported a much higher yield ranging from 610 kg to 900 kg, but this is unrealistically high for herds kept under traditional management systems. The FAO yield estimates range from 180 kg in 1970 to 290 kg in 1983. Neither the yield under traditional management nor that under experimental management or even FAO estimates compare with the yield of 2,682 kg per exotic cow per lactation as reported by Wilson et al (1976). The yield from traditional herds is low not only because of the type of stock kept but also because of the management practices of the herdsmen.
15. Low milk price. According to CARD (1981), the estimated average zonal costs of milk production per litre are N 0.33, 1 N 0.33 and N 0.33 for the southern, middle belt and northern states respectively. The corresponding farm-gate prices for fresh milk were N 0.29, N 0.38 and N 0.29 respectively. This m effect means that milk producers in the southern and the northern states could not break even if they were to sell at the observed farm-gate prices. The milk producers in the middle belt states would make a profit of 6% on their average cost of production per litre. In 1981, the urban market price for fresh milk at Sokoto in the north was N 0.72 per litre, and N 0.46 per litre at Gombe also in the north. These were equivalent to 148% mark-ups at Sokoto and Gombe respectively.
1
The official rate of exchange of the Naira (to the US$) ranged from US$ 1.382 to US$ 1.830 during 1973-1983 (see FAO Trade Year Book, 1983)
16. Competition from imported dairy products. As mentioned in pares 7 and 8 above, both government and private milk processing plants prefer using imported dairy products to domestically produced fresh milk. From the plants' point of view the major reasons would seem to be not only convenience but also strictly more economic factors arising from the poor state of rural roads and the seasonal fluctuation in fresh milk supply, both to some extent affecting the collection cost. Combined with the highly localized nature of the marketed supply of fresh milk prevailing in the rural areas of Nigeria (see reasons giving rise to this in pare 6) this situation has virtually made the urban markets of the country the preserves of imported and recombined milk. The output of a few of the government's urban dairies which utilize raw milk from their own ranches is so insignificant that it does not command any respectable share of the urban market. Under these circumstances, although one can hypothesize that imported dairy products pose a stiff competition to domestically produced milk, it is in effect safe to say that the latter is excluded from the urban areas of Nigeria where 95% of wage-earners live. However, as we will find out later, it is equally safe to say that imports of dairy products have a depressing effect on domestic milk production, although the magnitude of such effect is very low in relative terms as a result of the segregated nature of the urban market.
17. Inefficient technical and extension services. The Federal Livestock Extension Service as it now stands provides a package of services which includes the following components:
(a) looking into reproductive problems,
(b) de-worming cattle,
(c) sales of drugs at 50% subsidy,
(d) helping in setting up legume pasture plots of up to 40 ha per household, and
(e) selling supplementary feeds of cotton-seed cake at 50% subsidy (FLD. 1982).
Each state has a eve team of technical and extension staff consisting of one animal health officer, one animal production officer and one dairy technician. There are similar core teams in most of the states but they are not operational due to lack of mobility, lack of sense of duty and the generally unfavourable attitude of staff to work in rural areas. With this type of shortage of extension and technical services, cows die from preventable diseases while milk production from cows in milk falls much below what would be expected from the application of improved animal health and husbandry practices.
18. Inadequate labour supply. It has been reported by the Federal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (FDARD, 1980) that housewives provide the milking labour for resident stock owners. But if the herd is large, not every lactating cow will be milked because of the limited number of wives. The herds of most absentee stock owners are milked only to meet the needs of the herding households because of shortage of labour.
19. Ecological factors. These are technical factors which make it difficult for cattle production to expand to all the states of the federation. Climatic factors as well as the prevalence of tse-tse flies in the rainforest zones would require the introduction of cattle breeds adapted to the conditions of the different ecological zones of the country.
20. Other constraints. Ekpere (1984) has identified a number of other constraints which include:
(i) absence of security in land use rights,
(ii) high requirements of commercial supplementary feed for modem dairy production, and
(iii) poor pasture management and grazing controls.
