55. This article has attempted to provide an overall picture of milk consumption patterns in West Africa and to trace some of the factors which have influenced these patterns in the past two decades. The most general conclusion that emerges is that West Africa's dairy consumption situation derives from a variety of sources ranging from the specific demand and supply conditions of different areas in the region to policies pursued at both domestic and international levels.
56. The evidence presented suggests that domestic milk supply in West Africa has generally failed to meet dairy demand, especially rising urban demand, which has mainly been met through imports. There also appear to be basic differences in the nature and scale of dairy consumption between rural and urban areas, moist and dry zones, and high and low income countries and consumers.
57. In drier areas, milk consumption has traditionally relied on local rural dairy produce mainly in the form of fresh and sour milk. However, recent indications are that this pattern is changing with urbanisation and the decline of traditional dairying. In moister areas, milk consumption is predominantly urban and very much dependent on imports. Here too, milk consumption patterns are changing with the decline in incomes recently experienced by many West African countries.
58. The picture of milk consumption in West Africa drawn in this paper is obviously not sufficient to understand the important links existing between milk consumption and supply in differing areas, and still less to draw policy implications. Clearly, further research and more detailed information on factors affecting milk consumption patterns in West Africa are required to come to valid conclusions regarding the future outlook of milk consumption at a regional level.
59. Nevertheless, some tentative conclusions can be made with respect to the prospects for meeting dairy demand in West Africa through increased domestic milk production and/or substitution of local milk products for imported ones. As far as the dry zone is concerned, the outlook seems bright. If domestic milk production is to be promoted in this zone, there may at first be a case for protecting already established local milk producers against heavily subsidized imports. Much could be done through the setting up of rural milk collection centres to which producers in these areas could sell their milk at attractive prices. Easier access to credit and to inputs e.g. provision of cattle feed, veterinary services, cattle breed improvement, and improved milk marketing and processing facilities, are all crucial issues to be considered if the domestic dairy sector in this zone is to operate efficiently and increase its output. Traditional milk producers at present consume/sell most of the milk they get from their low yielding herds at household/village level. Given some incentives, they could produce reasonably clean and easily distributed products like fresh and/or sour milk, which will find ready markets in urban areas. Production growth may, of course, be slow in the initial stages. But it will have the advantages of fulfilling part of urban demand, of ensuring higher incomes and milk consumption levels to rural producers and of laying the ground for a more sustained development of the traditional dairy sector in this zone.
60. The scope for increased domestic milk production and import substitution in the moist zone appears more limited. Considerable constraints to increased domestic milk production do exist in this zone, some technical (e.g. livestock nutrition, disease and management problems), others socio-economic (e.g. high costs of domestic milk production, orientation of urban consumption habits towards imported dairy products, etc.). However, recent developments in the moist zone suggest increased opportunities for domestic milk production, especially in the immediate vicinity of urban areas, and for increased production of certain local dairy items. In some localities of this zone, items like cheese and sour milk mixed with cereals are already marketed profitably by small traditional dairy enterprises located in remote areas. With some encouragement, e.g. marketing and processing improvements, measures to increase milk yields from traditional herds etc., these items could be produced on a larger scale. Similarly, production of standardised, hygienic, preserved and packaged local dairy products, may well find a market among middle income urban consumers, or even lower-income ones, if the consumption of such locally produced items were actively promoted in public institutions e.g. schools, hospitals etc.
61. The preceding discussion assumes that the technical capacity (through extension and research services) exists to support the expansion of domestic milk production. It also assumes that there is a commitment on the part of West African governments to create the conditions conducive to more sustained milk consumption patterns. Given this, the means by which production and consumption goals are to be achieved should be viewed in the wider socio-economic context of West Africa whereby milk consumption patterns and factors underlying them vary considerably. In some areas of West Africa, milk plays only a minor role in meeting food demand, in others it is the sole means of sustenance. In most urban areas of West Africa, milk is consumed by relatively high income consumers. Under such circumstances, it makes little sense to envisage a single strategy for increasing milk consumption in the whole region. The important thing to stress is that policies that aim to influence milk consumption patterns in West Africa should be based on a sounder knowledge of the specific milk demand/supply situations in the region and consider such aspects as the efficient utilisation of domestic productive resources and the satisfaction of the needs of the large majority of milk consumers.
