Abstract
Substantial growth in Malian milk supply is necessary to meet rising demand for dairy products while also improving the livelihoods of milk producers and strengthening the competitiveness of the Malian dairy sector against imports. We applied a Cragg two-tiered model to a nationally representative dataset of dairy farming households to examine factors influencing market participation decisions. Four key findings and corresponding policy implications emerged. Firstly, dairy herd size was positively associated with market entry and milk sales. Improving the dissemination of higher-yielding improved breeds, to which less than 10% of households had access, should result in an increase in milk supply. Secondly, herd access to water, feed, and veterinary care also had the positive effect of increased milk supply, highlighting the importance of increased investment in animal health and nutrition. Thirdly, female-headed households were more likely to enter milk markets and they sold greater volumes than male-headed households. Because women typically face inequitable access to productive resources, gender-responsive policies and programs in the dairy sector should help to stimulate milk supply. Fourthly, an increase in milk price was associated with an increase in milk sales. This provides evidence that Malian milk producers are responsive to price incentives, while underlining the importance of incorporating dairy products into existing market information systems.
Highlights
Consumer demand for dairy products in Mali and in the broader West African region has been climbing steadily with income growth and urbanization (Zhou and Staatz, 2016)
The present study focused on Mali because the quantitative economic literature addressing milk market participation has largely overlooked West Africa and especially the Sahel region, which differs distinctively from the East African context in terms of policy history, market structure, and agroecology
The top 20% of household milk sellers accounted for 85% of all sales, whereas the bottom 20% accounted for only 1%
Summary
Consumer demand for dairy products in Mali and in the broader West African region has been climbing steadily with income growth and urbanization (Zhou and Staatz, 2016). The Malian government’s dairy development program (2008–2015) has joined other international development projects to construct or rehabilitate such collection centers, in addition to providing some support for producer training and artificial insemination (Government of Mali, 2016c). Despite such efforts, milk supply in Mali and the region has not been keeping pace with growing demand. It presents linear trends of the per capita supplies of domestic cow milk and imported cow milk, based on the past decade of milk output and population growth. Government statistics likely underestimate domestic milk supply, as they are calculated based on limited sampling and multiple assumptions
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