Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the world’s fastest growing human populations, with a rate of increase of 2.6 percent per annum. This is coupled with the lowest average annual per capita consumption of livestock products: 11.0 kg of meat and 27.2 kg of milk, compared with the developing world average of 26.4 kg for meat and 48.6 kg for milk. Growth in livestock production has barely kept pace with the growth in demand for food of animal origin, and per capita production is either declining or only marginally increasing. While expansion of the livestock population can contribute to the necessary increase in output, improvement in the supply of meat and milk also depends critically on increases in livestock productivity, which is generally poor across the region’s various production systems.
The main objective of this study was to improve the information base on livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa by compiling and reviewing quantitative information on various aspects of ruminant production systems, estimating output from different systems, and quantifying their contribution to the overall availability of livestock products for human consumption. The study focused on cattle and small ruminants, which are the predominant livestock species in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting, in terms of tropical livestock units (TLUs), for 88 percent of the region’s total livestock resources, a proportion which is unlikely to change significantly in the foreseeable future.
The study takes as its starting point the premise that livestock in sub-Saharan Africa are kept in different livestock systems, each with varying contributions to overall production and with different potentials for expansion. The ruminant production systems in sub-Saharan Africa were classified into two main categories: traditional (pastoral, agropastoral and mixed) and non-traditional (ranching and dairy) systems. Four criteria were used to further subdivide the mixed systems: rainfall, length of growing period, cropping pattern and mean temperature during the growing period. Cattle, sheep and goats are kept in all the traditional systems in varying proportions, their relative distribution being determined by the comparative advantages of each species in each agro-ecological zone (AEZ). The study provides a description of livestock systems in relation to the functions of livestock, their management, and herd sizes and structures.
The production parameters of ruminants in traditional and non-traditional production systems reported in published and grey literature between 1973 and 2000 were reviewed and analysed. The review revealed substantial inconsistencies in measurement, definition and reporting of production parameters. Furthermore, variations in study protocols and the criteria for selecting study units, and a research bias towards certain species and systems, were common.
The analysis confirmed that the production parameters of ruminants in the traditional systems of sub-Saharan Africa are generally poor, without marked differences between systems, AEZs or subregions. The main sources of variability in output lie in livestock density rather than individual animal productivity. Average calf mortality risk is 22 percent, calving rates are low, at around 60 percent, and milk offtake per lactation is around 250 kg. The fertility rates and prolificacy of sheep (113 percent and 1.08) and goats (116 percent and 1.30) are relatively higher, but are countered by high mortality risks in all age groups, lamb and kid mortality risks being around 27 percent and 28 percent respectively. Livestock in the non-traditional systems are achieving considerably higher productivity levels than in the traditional systems, a fact that demonstrates the benefits of improved nutrition, management and health.
The Livestock Development Planning System Version 2 (LDPS2) was used to estimate herd growth rates, offtake per animal and total offtake from the different traditional ruminant production systems. The use of draught power, expressed as oxen workdays/km2/year, was estimated on the basis of herd structures and reports of draught animal use.
Beef and milk offtake per animal per year is extremely low in the traditional systems when compared with the non-traditional systems. For example, beef and milk offtake per animal in the highland mixed system is estimated at 6.8 kg and 24.8 kg per year, compared with 18.3 kg and 599.8 kg per year in the smallholder dairy systems of the same zone. Traditional pastoral and mixed systems in the semi-arid and subhumid zones account for 77.2 percent of the beef offtake in sub-Saharan Africa, whereas 42.7 percent of the milk offtake is produced by improved smallholder dairy systems, which constitute only 4.3 percent of the cattle population. Spatial analysis revealed regional variations in the availability of meat and milk per person, showing that per capita beef and milk supply were highest in the regions with smallholder dairy systems and lowest in the humid zones of Central and West Africa. With respect to draught power, the highest estimate, of 1 195 oxen workdays/km2/year, was obtained for the mixed systems of the Ethiopian highlands. Estimated annual meat offtake per animal from small ruminants was between 1.8 kg and 2.9 kg for sheep and 2.3 kg and 3.1 kg for goats.
Estimates of herd growth rates showed that livestock populations in the pastoral systems are growing at a slower rate than in any other traditional system. Cattle numbers in pastoral systems are estimated to be growing at a long-term average rate of 0.1 percent per year, with mixed systems in the subhumid and humid zones showing the highest growth potential. The weighted annual population growth rates in all the systems combined were estimated to be 1.4 percent, 2.5 percent and 4.3 percent for cattle, sheep and goats respectively.
Potential applications of the approach presented in this study include:
Estimation of offtake of livestock products from the various livestock systems at regional, national or subnational level, allowing quantification of the contribution of each system to the availability of food of animal origin.
Study of the development of the livestock sector (how livestock numbers and products from different systems change over time) and identification of constraints to the expansion and development of various production systems.
Quantitative ex ante impact assessment: the study of how livestock development interventions, such as improved disease control or reproductive management, can increase productivity and farmer income, leading to identification of the institutions required to realize the potential for development.
