Analysis of the milk value chains in Ghana and Senegal: What can we learn?

Abstract

In the absence of a significant increase in domestic milk production, Ghana and Senegal heavily depend on milk powder and other dairy products imports from EU member countries. Actors in the West African dairy sector have come under increasing pressure to compete with the cheap imported milk powder on their local markets. Therefore, this research study was intended to map and compare the structure of two milk value chains in Ghana and Senegal. For the collection of primary data, in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants. A total of 59 actors along the milk value chains were sampled and interviewed and the data was descriptively analyzed. The study results reveal that the local fresh milk value chain in Ghana is entirely separated from the milk powder value chain. Ghana's local milk value chain is informal, simple, and not well-developed compared to the imported milk powder value chain. The main actors in the fresh milk value chains are the input suppliers, producers (intensive, semi-intensive, extensive), collectors, processors, street vendors, financial and other services providers. The value chain that depends on imported milk powder is extensive compared to the local milk value chain. Its key players are importers, re-packagers, re-constitutors, processors, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. In Senegal, the key actors are limited in number and include input suppliers, producers (pastoral, agro-pastoral, peri-urban), collectors, processors, importers, wholesalers, small retailers (small kiosks, shops etc.). Overall, the value addition practices were low as compared to the potential available for dairy production. Traditional milk processing is more dominant in both countries, and herders' wives transform fresh milk into butter cheese (known as wagashi) or curdled milk. The primary constraints identified in both countries are an insufficient supply of fresh milk in the dry season, high transport fares due to long distances to the milk collectors, lack of storage facilities, lack of credit facilities to the dairy value chain actors, insufficient extension support, poor road networks, and competition from imported milk. Nevertheless, the strong preference of consumers for fresh milk-based products in both coun-tries presents a great opportunity to the local dairy value chain actors.