Smallholder dairy production in the context of crop-livestock systems in the Inland Valleys of Nigeria 2: Characterisation of dairy production systems in the inland valleys around Zaria

Abstract

A total of 205 households that use inland valleys for agricultural activities and had dairy animals in and around Zaria were interviewed to establish the link between household or community based activities in the inland valleys and milk production. The result of the study shows that Fulani who are traditionally pastoralists and landless, are now settling down and most of them have title deeds on the land where they are settled. These settled herdsmen have taken to farming and they use crop residues from such farming activities to feed their livestock. The overall average herd size in the study area was 54 cows. Apart from selling and consuming fresh milk, most households (88%) also process the milk into sour milk and butter. In half of the households (50%), the family consumes 34% of the fresh milk produced. Twenty-three (23%) and thirty-four (34%) of the butter and sour milk processed is reserved for family consumption,respectively. Overall, milk and milk products constitute a large proportion of the diet in the surveyed households. However, the quantity of dairy products sold exceeds that consumed by the households, which shows that the trend is towards commercialisation of the enterprise.