PROFITABILITY OF FORAGE PRODUCTION IN SMALLHOLDER PERIURBAN DAIRY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

Peri-urban dairy producers in West Africa face major production constr aints including inadequate and poor quality feeds. In view of the high cost of traditional supplementary feeds such as oilseed cakes, the pr oduction of forage, especially legumes, is increasingly being advocate d. However, it has not been established whether returns in terms of in creased livestock productivity from sown forages will be adequate to e ncourage smallholder livestock owners to undertake forage production f or indigenous livestock. In three trials involving indigenous Bunaji c ows biological and economic responses in terms of milk yields to farme r-planted forage legumes and tree legumes from home gardens were evalu ated. Synthesis of the resulting data on labour inputs, forage yields, feed intakes, milk yields, value of outputs and cost of inputs such a s seeds and fertilizers showed that for the semi-intensive smallholder and zero-grazed models considered in this study, the margin or profit from using home-grown fodder was 5-8 times the cost of acquiring the feed. The opportunity cost of using the land for forage production rat her than for cultivating sorghum, a highly favoured cereal crop, was o nly 67% of the accrued benefits from milk yields produced by cows supp lemented with the forage hays. Thus, there is a real potential for pro fitable dairy production in peri-urban areas using home-grown fodder.