Page 58 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Innovate Afrika

Donors and governments have to
stop pushing industrial dairy, and
development banks need to stop fi-
nancing companies that compete di-
rectly with smallholder dairies. What
is needed are regulations, policies
and programmes that support small-
holder dairies, making it easier for
them to supply urban markets with
fresh milk. Simple measures like the
Ankole Long-horned cattle, indigenous to the Ankole region in Uganda. Photo: provision of small cooling tanks or
Nobert Petro Kalule efficient pasteurisation burners can
make a huge difference. So too can
municipal regulations that provide
Africa’s rich livestock diversity small vendors and traders accessi-
ble and safe spaces to bring their
Of the 222 million cattle that provide Africans with dairy and meat, most are dairy products from the countryside
owned by smallholder farmers and pastoralists.[25] This cattle population is high-
ly diverse. There are at least 150 indigenous cattle breeds that have been identified to urban consumers. And foreign
on the African continent, and many more remain uncategorised.[26] governments and donors should
start by turning their attention back
Cattle herding in different countries is carried out by specific tribes, such as the home, where the industrial, corpo-
Banyankole in Uganda, Masaai in Kenya and Tanzania, and the Fulani throughout rate-controlled dairy systems are not
the Sahel and West Africa. They each have their own local breeds, like the famous only killing Africa’s dairies but are
Ankole long-horned cattle found in and around Uganda or the humped Zebu cat- causing numerous environmental
tle that are kept by Fulani herders, of which there are many of different varieties and social problems at the source.
adapted to the local geographies where they are grazed.[27] Actions need to be taken to greatly
reduce dairy production in these
Many of these groups are nomadic herders who move for long distances and
periods of time, looking for feed and water for their animals. As such, their cattle countries while ensuring livelihoods
breeds are adapted to the local conditions like the high temperatures, drought, for their dairy farmers.
the long distances between sources of grass and water and the various endemic
diseases, as well as to the needs and cultures of those who depend on them.[28] There are several inspiring initia-
tives already underway in Senegal,
In recent years, farmers and even pastoralists have been pushed to adopt Burkina Faso and other African
“high-yielding” breeds of cows, often crosses between the cows used on indus- countries encouraging the consump-
trial dairy farms in Europe and local breeds. These new breeds are offered to tion of local milk. These need to
women, particularly widows and single mothers in the rural areas of the countries be ramped up and multiplied, while
where organisations like Send A Cow and Heifer International operate. By their keeping dairy corporations like
nature, these foreign breeds are costly and come with onerous instructions for
care, health and reproduction, for which the farmers have to take on debt to pur- FrieslandCampina and supermarkets
chase costly veterinary products, shelters and artificial insemination. like Auchan, who are falsely adver-
tising themselves as “local”, out of
Although cattle dominate Africa’s dairy sector, sheep, camels and goats are also the picture. It is time that Africa’s di-
important to dairy production, especially in certain areas of the continent. Exact verse smallholder dairies, composed
figures are hard to come by, it is estimated that Africa is home to 27% of global of millions of herders, farmers,
sheep and 32% of global goat populations, and about 20% of global cattle.[29] vendors, and processors, utilising
traditional breeds of cattle, goats
Many herders and farmers in Africa prefer small ruminants because they tend to and sheep, and making all kinds of
involve lower costs and to be easier to manage than cattle. This is especially true yoghurts, cheeses and other healthy
for goats, known as the “poor person’s cow”, which have long been raised on the
continent. dairy products, are finally celebrated
and supported.

58 | we tell the true afrikan story