Cattle farm's typology of Nikki's and Péhunco's district in the north of Benin.

Abstract

In the goal to characterize cattle farming and milk production in the north of Benin a typology of herd installed around Pehunco’s and Nikki’s creamery was made. Data were collected from a random sample farmers based on extension services’ lists. The survey was done with 146 cattle-breeders at Nikki and 139 at Pehunco which were in the official extension group. The principal composant analysis have identified four types of cattle-breeders called CB1 , CB2 , CB3 and CB4, differentiated by ethnicity, farming – cattle breeding integration, family’s skilled labor level, breeders’ training level, cattle phenotype, endogenous health knowledge, prophylaxis practice and food supplementation with crop residues. CB1, CB3 and CB4 were breeders who gave more importance to farming depend on cattle breeding. In return their small ruminants’ population increased. Typology allows bettering understanding the breeding systeme around creamery in Nikki and Pehunco.