Dairy farming in East Africa

Cattle and other ruminants convert forage, including low-quality crop residues, into valuable products. The relative importance of these products will vary from livestock system to country, in Africa meat is the main product. Among resource-poor smallholders and most pastoralists, manure, milk and draught power are the important products from cattle. Among the Maasai of East Africa, where it has always been assumed that the sale of animals is the driving factor in cattle rearing, milk is ranked as the number one commodity. In areas where a market exists, these products are sold to provide income.

In mixed farming systems, cattle play a major role in household food security. In some of these systems manure is more important than milk or meat, as it helps to improve or maintain soil fertility and hence food production. As resource-poor households in most of the developing world organic farming is the most sustainable way of using natural resources and producing without exhausting the soil and without pollution. Besides that, most small holder farmers cannot afford to buy chemical fertilizers. Manure is generally the only source of nutrients applied to the crop fields and to produce compost in mixing it with green plant material. As draught animals, cattle also allow households to plough and cultivate more land and remove labor bottlenecks during weeding. Cattle have been used traditionally as draught animals in many parts of the developing world, especially in Ethiopia, parts of East and Southern Africa.

In Kenya, the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands make up 84% of Kenya’s total land surface; supports about 8 million Kenyans, as well as 50% of the livestock and 65% of the wildlife population. Kenya Arid and Semi-Arid Lands produce the bulk of the red meat consumed in Kenya under nomadic pastoralism and ranching production systems supporting about 6 million beef cattle. The beef industry represents an important proportion of the economy accounting for about 70% of total beef meat consumed in the country. Apart from meat, beef cattle have several benefits, which include milk, hides and skins, draught power for land preparation and transport and manure too.

Smallholder dairy farmers in East and Southern Africa produce over 80% of the milk consumed in this region. The majority of the milk is produced by cattle, about 10% of all milk is camel’s milk and about 4% is goat’s milk. Estimates from 2007 rate annual milk production in Kenya at 3.5 billion liters, worth over 50 billion Ksh annually. This sector of agriculture, forming an economical basis of millions of livelihoods, has huge potential for improvement through management practices, better feeding and breeding practices, disease management and improved care of the young.

Well worked out economics of dairy production is essential for making profits from dairy production. The economics of animal keeping is very dependent on the basic cornerstones: Health, welfare and basic good Nutrition.

Mauritius dairy farming

Mauritius one of the world’s most pristine environments and is free from major tropical animal diseases. It also has had a continuous increase in demand, from both tourists and locals, for locally produced milk and meat. Yet, despite having all of these drivers, domestic food production has been confronted by the high price of imported concentrated feeds,

Mauritius still depends heavily on the import of milk and meat. This is mainly due to the high price of imported concentrated feeds, which limits domestic production. Mauritius is a net food importer, with an overall self-sufficiency ratio of 25 percent. Agricultural imports accounted for $1 billion, representing 19.9 percent of total Mauritian imports. France was the leading source of Mauritian agricultural imports.

Corn/Soybean Residue for Animal Feed

In 2021, Mauritius imported 96,805 metric tons of corn and 50,113 metric tons of oil cake and other solid residues resulting from the extraction of soybean oil as inputs for its livestock feed factories.  The total grain requirement, valued at $51 million, is imported mainly from Argentina and Paraguay.  The two animal feed factories in Mauritius have indicated that they would consider imports from the United States if they were competitive in terms of freight and price.  U.S. trade associations, such as the U.S. Grain Council, would need to undertake long-term market development efforts with the local animal feed manufacturers.

Mauritian milk production is projected to drop by 9.7% year on year until 2026, falling from 2,100 metric tons in 2021 to 1,200. This marks a decrease of 11.7% since 1966. In 2021, Mauritius was ranked 172 in terms of milk production.

Thirty years ago, Mauritius was producing as many as 25 million liters of fresh milk. Over the years, production fell drastically to around 5 million liters today. The country has to import 95% of the milk they consume.

The local dairy is a very small sector with only about 5000 dairy cows, producing about 4 million liters of milk, which represent only 5% of the total requirements. Hence, Mauritius does not have the resources and capacity to produce milk efficiently. About 1 million liters of the milk produced, through reconstitution from powder milk, is marketed as pasteurized milk by the Agricultural Marketing Board and other dairy industries.

Mauritius is not a milk producing country, it has three main dairy products manufacturers, namely Maurilait Ltd., INNODIS Ltd., and Laiterie de Cure pipe, which are producing mainly yoghurt, ice cream, sterilized milk and flavored milk, using imported raw materials.

The market is expected to grow annually by 5.84% (CAGR 2023-2028).

In 2021, milk yield for Mauritius was 4,368 hg/an. Though Mauritius milk yield fluctuated substantially in recent years, it tended to decrease through 1972 – 2021 period ending at 4,368 hg/an in 2021.

Milk production has been on the decline in the past three decades, leading to the present situation where the country’s milk production is only 5% of its requirement. Among the factors behind the decline is competition from reconstituted milk from imported milk powder. As a result, imported dairy products ended up being much cheaper than domestic products. The liberalization of dairy products and removal of customs tariffs on almost all dairy products caused an additional upsurge in importation.

Mauritius is a net food importer, with an overall self-sufficiency ratio of 25 percent.  Due to its limited size, the absence of economies of scale, and the comparative advantage of sugarcane in economic terms, Mauritius imports many of its essential food requirements.  In 2021, agricultural imports accounted for $1 billion, representing 19.9 percent of total Mauritian imports.

In 2021, Mauritius also imported items to produce animal feed, such as corn, oil cake, and solid residues from soybean oil extraction, mostly from Argentina.  Due to the current disruptions in the global agricultural supply chain, Mauritian importers are looking for alternative suppliers for several agricultural products and inputs, including edible oil, wheat, fertilizers, and corn for animal feed.

The cattle population in Mauritius amounts to about 35,000 head, made up of various breeds. Of this, approximately 7,000 are females of producing age. The cattle industry in general can be described as being a low input system. The local cattle are called Creole; they are Bos taurus type and of medium size, 300–450 kg adult weight, polled and hump less. They are predominantly white or white, brown with dun, black or brown characteristic spots (Bennie, 1956). Cross-breeding programmes, using AI and bulls, have resulted in various levels of Friesian-Creole crosses. Other exotic breeds and their crosses exist in smaller numbers.

Feed resources

The traditional practice of cow keepers (small cattle owners in the villages) is to feed their cows mainly on sugar cane tops, which are abundant during the sugar cane harvest season (June to November), together with some selected grasses and crop residues. During the rest of the year, they feed a mixture of various grasses, creepers, shrubs, twigs and crop residues; these forages are available in varying amounts all year round. Most of them are highly fibrous and contain 4–12% crude protein in dry matter. All forages are collected free from the neighborhood, and none are cultivated, at the cow keepers’ level, for use as cattle feed.

about 95% of the fresh milk produced in the country. This is equivalent to about 12% of the total consumption of milk which amounts to about 90 million liters per year (fresh milk and imported milk powder).

Concentrates

The cow feed had 17% crude protein and was made up of 30% cane molasses, 30% cottonseed cake (or groundnut cake), 5% wheat bran, 11.5% rice bran, 20% maize, 1% common salt and 2.5% calcium carbonate. Cottonseed cake had 44% crude protein and was fed together with a mineral supplement of 15 g common salt and 50 g calcium carbonate per day. It was chosen for comparison with cow feed because the Ministry proposed to use it later as a straight protein supplement, thus sparing mixing and transport costs.

Forages

The cow keepers fed their cows forages ad libitum according to normal practice. Regular visits, 3 times per week, were made to the cow keepers’ farms and observations were made of management practices and animal behavior associated with the supply and consumption of fodder. Measurements were made of total feed intake on 30% of the total number (88) of cows participating in the project.

The cane tops were first separated into two fractions, sheath bundle and leaf blade, with a large knife before analysis. For nylon bag work, two mature Friesian × Creole steers fitted with permanent rumen cannula were used. They were fed a mixture of 20 – 25 kg Sataria sphacelate and Ischmaemum arista tum and 1 kg cottonseed cake plus minerals.

Mauritius Milk & Cream 2023 Retail Prices

The retail price range in Mauritius Rupee for milk & cream is between MUR 45.7 and MUR 91.41 per kilogram or between MUR 20.73 and MUR 41.45 per pound(lb) in Port Louis and Beau Bassin-Rose Hill.

The retail price range for Mauritius milk & cream in August is between US$ 1 and US$ 2 per kilogram in Mauritius.

Wholesale prices in Maurititus

• In 2023, the approximate wholesale price range for Mauritius milk & cream is between US$ 0.7 per kilogram.
• Mauritius Sugarcane 2023 Retail Prices in September is US$ 0.11 per kilogram.

To produce 1 kg milk 0.7 USD, we need 1,4 kg feed (0.11 x 1.4) 1.54 USD which stands loss of 0,84 USD LOSS PER KG